> Moving goods from the train to the truck is not a negligible cost.

Really? I was under the impression that this was one of the primary benefits of standard shipping containers.

That goods transfer costs would be negligible?

Between shipping modes, yes. Hence the name "Intermodal Container".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermodal_container

Yes. Unloading stuff from a container is not a negligible cost, but transferring the whole thing from a train to a semitruck really should be. It is a very large part of their purpose.

A nimble supply chain, or "just in time" as they call it, is a hack large companies use to shift quantities from one column of their quarterly reports to another that the stock market looks more favourably upon. Analysts can't very well quantify the risk of a JIT supply chain but they know cash flow over finished goods.

That isn't true. It means you need less storage space, and you need less capital tied up in parts you aren't using. It also means your cabbages don't rot.