Intermodal Logistics and Transportation



Intermodal Logistics and Transportation

It is possible to design transportation systems with more than one conceptual fashion in two ways:

•Intermodal transport: A system supported by a thrust logistics using at least two modes of transport. Modes share characteristics in handler, allowing efficient transfer of cargo (or passengers) between modes during the origin-destination path.

•Multimodal transport: A set of modes offering their services over any distance between origin and destination. Although intermodal transport is possible here, multimodal transport does not necessarily imply the latter.

Competition between modes of transport has tended to produce a segmented and unintegrated transport system. Indeed, each mode has sought to exploit its advantages in cost, service, reliability and security. Carriers will try to sustain their operations by maximizing the lines they operate and control. Thus all modes are led to perceive each other with mistrust and suspicion. The lack of modal integration was also exacerbated by government policies prohibiting companies from holding companies operating in modes other than their own (as in the United States before deregulation), or by placing a fashion directly under wards of the state and leading to monopoly (Naim, 2006).

The last forty years have seen considerable efforts, however integration of transport systems disjoints through intermodality. This concept involves the use of at least two modes of transportation between origin and destination. The phenomenon was made possible in part through technology. The technical transfer of freight from one mode to another have actually facilitated intermodal transfers. The greatest innovation is arguably the container, which allows easy movement between global systems. The stacking of containers on rail can double the capacity of freight trains while incurring minimal supplementary costs and, consequently, improving the competitiveness of rail in place on trucking long road.

Handling technologies that are instrumental in the development of intermodality, ...