Minneapolis, MN

Minneapolis has a surprisingly busy intermodal hub for its population, because the Twin Cities sit at the intersection of several major North American rail corridors and are served by four Class I railroads. International container traffic is concentrated primarily at CPKC’s Shoreham Yard in northeast Minneapolis and BNSF’s Midway facility in St. Paul, with additional intermodal capacity provided by Union Pacific. BNSF’s network connects the region with Pacific Coast container gateways along its Northern Transcon, while CPKC provides direct connections north into Canada and south toward Mexico. This creates a mix of international 20ft, 40ft, and 40ft high cube containers moving alongside domestic intermodal freight through the Minneapolis market.

One unusual feature of Minneapolis is that it serves as the primary intermodal gateway for much of Minnesota even though container service and equipment availability are relatively concentrated. MnDOT has identified limited access to international shipping containers as a longstanding challenge for Minnesota businesses, with most shippers relying on the Twin Cities terminals and occasional shortages of empty marine containers. That combination of strong rail connections, significant agricultural and manufacturing demand, and comparatively constrained container availability can create distinctive supply-and-demand conditions for used shipping containers in the Minneapolis market. Due to Minneapolis being a deficit market for containers, prices on used shipping containers can sometimes be higher than other inland intermodal hubs. Western Container Sales is based in Minneapolis, so we can always guarantee the best prices on used conex containers in Minnesota.