Intermodal freight from overseas destined for the U.S. has a new way to make it farther inland without having to rely as much on trucks.

A ceremonial first international ocean container arrived late last week at the Port of Tucson, Ariz., making the trip from China in 20 days.

Progressive Railroading reports the inland port has been handling domestic containers for nearly the past 10 years. Port officials worked with Union Pacific Railway to offer service for international containers running on trains running between the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and the inland Port of Tucson.

This new service means for freight coming into southern California destined for southern Arizona or points across the border in Mexico, trucks will no longer have to move international containers just after arriving at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Rather the containers can be sent seamlessly to the facility by rail and later moved by truck.

In an interview with the Arizona Daily Star newspaper, the private owner of the port of Tucson said this new service will take hundreds of trucks off the roadways and the facility is “now a true end-of-port shop.”

"We can ship to China without any trucks ever touching the highway," he said