>>1876826Trucking is faster (3-5 business days vs 5-6 on pic related's route), has more flexibility in destination/handling and tolerates single-truckload/LTL substantially better than rail does.
While one observing an American freight train will see hundreds of double-stacked intermodal cars go by, it's clearly only a small (but important for revenue) portion of overall traffic.
Biggest advantages to trains in this case, amazing fuel economy and low crew-carload ratios are countered by the US having diesel prices on par with substantially poorer Brazil and cargo values/cultural time preference high enough to eat the costs of long-distance trucking.
