---
title: American Grain Is Leaving the Country in the Containers That Brought Imports In
description: Containerized US grain shipments rose 33.3 percent in May, moving to Asia in the import boxes railroads reload at inland terminals in the Plains.
author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
updated: 2026-08-03T17:18:28.636Z
canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/containerized-grain-exports-inland-intermodal-terminals
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/rail-modal-inland-intermodal-terminal-93525.webp
categories: Supply Chains
content_type: News
region: United States
publication: Sovereign Magazine
schema_type: Article
---

Most of the steel boxes that carry imported furniture, electronics and clothing into the United States are hauled back to port empty. A growing number now make the return trip loaded with corn, soybeans and wheat. Containerized shipments of American grain were up 33.3 percent in May compared with a year earlier, and 32.9 percent above the five-year average, according to the US Department of Agriculture's [Grain Transportation Report](https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/GTR07302026.pdf).

Containers still move a modest share of the whole. In 2025 they carried 11 percent of all US waterborne grain exports. What they do carry goes overwhelmingly in one direction: 83 percent of containerized grain exports were bound for Asia, and of the 48 percent of waterborne grain exports that went to Asia last year, 19 percent traveled in containers rather than in a ship's bulk holds.

Indonesia is the largest single destination, taking 23 percent of containerized grain exports, followed by Taiwan at 15 percent and Vietnam at 14 percent. Korea takes 10 percent, Thailand and Japan 5 percent each, France and Malaysia 4 percent each, the Philippines 3 percent and Turkey 2 percent.

## Railroads Reload the Boxes Instead of Hauling Them Back Empty

Import containers arrive at US ports loaded with consumer goods, and most are then carried back to the port empty, which adds cost and wastes capacity, BNSF Railway says. The railroad runs a program called [Matchback](https://www.bnsf.com/news-media/railtalk/service/matchback-program.html) that reloads those 20-foot and 40-foot boxes with export commodities and moves them by train to the West Coast, where they go onto ships bound for China and other Southeast Asian countries. Ben Murray, director of sales for BNSF's Consumer Products team, says the railroad has offered the service to ocean carriers for nearly two decades.

> "It offers the potential to move more than air back in those containers."
> — Ben Murray, Director of Sales, BNSF Consumer Products

## Grain Trains Load at Minot, Fremont and Amarillo Before Heading West

Rail Modal Group is BNSF's largest Matchback partner, moving an average of 15 to 20 trains a month, and it recently loaded its 1,000th train for the railroad out of Minot, North Dakota. It owns and operates inland ports there and at Fremont, Nebraska, and Amarillo, Texas. Its own website lists two further locations, at Kansas City, Missouri, and Albany, New York. Each facility holds track for up to two trains at a time.

Shipping a metric ton of grain from the US Gulf to Japan cost $69.75 on 23 July. From the Pacific Northwest to Japan it cost $36.25, just over half as much. In the week to 23 July, ocean carriers loaded 25 grain vessels in the Gulf, 4 percent fewer than in the same week a year earlier.

## An Infrastructure Fund Has Bought Control of the Business

One of InfraRed Capital Partners' value-add funds has acquired a majority stake in Rail Modal Group. InfraRed is an international infrastructure asset manager, and no purchase price was disclosed. Rail Modal Group was founded in 2018 by Greg Oberting, who remains invested in the business and will continue to lead it.

Filip Guz, partner and head of Americas investments at InfraRed, called Rail Modal Group “an established, asset-backed platform providing essential infrastructure to customers across the agricultural and logistics supply chains”. InfraRed says the money will go on capacity and resilience at the existing terminals, on broader services, and on new locations.

Rail Modal Group says it has shipped more than 1,200 unit trains since 2018, which it puts at the equivalent of about 200 million truck miles, consolidating freight onto trains of more than 100 cars with on-dock service into West Coast container ports. It says containerization keeps a producer's crop identifiable and intact all the way to the buyer, which bulk shipping cannot do. It describes its own network as reaching agricultural markets across the Midwest and Southern Plains that sit far from bulk export terminals.

Rail Modal Group's own account of its network is at [railmodalgroup.com](https://railmodalgroup.com/).

## FAQ

**Q: Is grain really shipped in ordinary shipping containers?**
Yes. The same 20-foot and 40-foot boxes that bring consumer imports into US ports are reloaded with grain and other export commodities under BNSF's Matchback program, instead of going back to the coast empty.

**Q: Why do empty containers go back to Asia at all?**
Ocean carriers need their boxes back where the imports originate. Most return empty, which earns the carrier nothing on the trip, so reloading them with an export commodity turns a dead leg into a paid one.

**Q: Where does America's containerized grain actually go?**
Almost all of it goes to Asia. USDA figures put 83 percent of containerized grain exports there, led by Indonesia at 23 percent, Taiwan at 15 percent and Vietnam at 14 percent.

**Q: Why would a producer use a container rather than a bulk vessel?**
Rail Modal Group says containerization keeps a crop identifiable and intact from the farm to the buyer, which matters for specialty and identity-preserved grain. Containers also reach producers who sit a long way from a bulk export terminal.