FARGO, N.D. (AP) - Two out-of-state companies have been hired to develop a shipping network to help transport North Dakota products to market.

It's called an intermodal project, referring to combined modes of transportation, and involves standardized containers carried on trains, trucks and ships to international markets.

Area exporters have complained for years that they lose sales because of a lack of containers, or that containers that cost too much.

Companies seeking to ship products are "frustrated, impatient and somewhat desperate," said Bob Sinner of SB&B, a Casselton food exporter.

Wilbur Smith Associates of Fairfax, Va., and TranSystems of Kansas City, Mo., have been hired to analyze North Dakota's market and develop a plan to help businesses move products and analyze links from Minot to Bismarck and Fargo.

One part of the study is to focus on whether sites could provide products to fill westbound containers that might otherwise return empty after delivering products to eastern markets.

BNSF Railway has a shipping center in Dilworth, Minn., which an earlier study said is losing business to similar facilities in the Minneapolis area and Winnipeg.

"For this to be successful, it's going to be very critical that this be a regional effort," said Greg Johnson, a member of a regional coordinating board.

"We need to basically get as much support as we can to see what the market looks like and what's driving the market," said Wilbur Smith consultant Joe Gurskis.

"Everybody has got to make money in this thing or it's not going to come together," he said.

The study is expected to be ready by early May.

Wilbur Smith and TranSystems will be paid $105,800 for their work. The North Dakota Transportation Department is to pay 80 percent of the cost, with the cities of Fargo and Minot each paying 10 percent.