Intermodal freight transit is a trending topic in the transportation sector right now for various reasons. Many businesses are turning to intermodal freight transport because the service offers many benefits. It saves them time and a significant amount of money on product delivery.
We'll go through the essentials of intermodal transportation in this blog, including how this process works and its advantages for your transport company.
What Is Intermodal Shipping?
When large-scale items are transported in the same steel-based containers across two or more modes of transportation, it’s known as intermodal transportation. As the global boundaries diminish, intermodal shipping remains a common form of modern transportation. The shipping sequence may include a truck, train, ship, and then another truck.
As an alternative to moving commodities from one truck to the next, intermodal transportation transports them in these standardized, specially designed containers. This procedure may gain many advantages, including improved product security and quicker delivery.
British colonists used this means of transportation in the 18th century. It was used by the British to transport coal in containers through their canal system; however, intermodal shipping did not become the norm until the 1960s.
Back then, logistics firms and international organizations made efforts to ‘intermodalize’ additional forms of transport. By standardizing worldwide container sizes, intermodal transport became even more profitable by facilitating smooth handling between different modes of transportation. Multimodal transport currently dominates global supply chains and logistics.
Anyone in the logistics sector has to be aware of this fundamental principle that drives international shipping and transportation.
Examples of Intermodal Transportation
In the intermodal transportation process, there are multiple phases. We’ve used an example of a cargo shipment to give you a better understanding:
Cargo is picked up in Paris and transported by truck to the port of Le Havre (France). After that, it will be transported to Cape Town, South Africa, in a shipping container. There are several service providers and carriers involved in this process, which many people oversee.
Finally, a road transporter will carry the products to a nearby warehouse in Cape Town, where they will be stored for a few days before being sent out of the country again.
In this intermodal case, the vendor and customer struck individual contracts. The carriers produced several separate combination transport bills of lading.
As a result, the service provided by truck, boat, train, and second truck fulfills the intermodal transport definition. Most of the time, the client also subcontracts the required land transport.
What Does a Typical Intermodal Shipping Process Look Like?
An empty vehicle arrives at the consignee location at the beginning of the intermodal transport process. The products are loaded into the truck's container at the rear by the shipper or carrier in charge. Most likely, these commodities will be handled by no one until they arrive at their final destination.
Railyards may be reached by vehicle using the road system. The containers are loaded onto a train here by a logistics firm. The train may transfer the container to a railway station or a port, depending on the target city.
The shipping business transports these containers to their final destination through the marine network. The container is unloaded and transferred to a new vehicle by workers. Another option is to place it on a truck and transfer it to another train for further interior transportation. This vehicle can then get the container to the final modal station.
After this, the shipping firm removes the container's contents. Once there is no more cargo in the container, they may use it again. Eventually, the logistics business makes the final delivery to the end customer.
Businesses employ multimodal transportation for a variety of reasons. Using many modes of transportation enables a logistics organization to use the benefits of each. When it comes to inland transportation, train service is generally more cost-effective than air transport. Moreover, this is a time-saving method of transportation, especially over great distances.
How the Intermodal Shipping Process Works
To better understand the intermodal transportation process, we’ve discussed each phase in detail below.
1. Products Are Transported by Truck
Trucking is routinely employed to link the "linehaul" ocean plus rail parts of a worldwide intermodal freight journey. It is often known as "drayage" to refer to specialized trucking that transports goods between ports on the coasts, rail terminals, and docks on land.
When it comes to containerized freight, Chicago is a typical hub since numerous rail lines in the U.S. finish there or nearby. This form of drayage, which begins at one railroad and ends at another, is often referred to as a "crosstown load" by vehicle carriers.
For example, a container bound for the east coast will arrive in Chicago through Union Pacific or BNSF Railway and then be sent to one of the eastern railways, such as CSX or Norfolk Southern.
2. Products Are Transferred to a Flat Car
They were the first form of railcar employed by the railroad business and had a significant position in railroad history. Flatcars were able to haul a wide variety of cargo due to the versatility provided by their flat-deck construction. As a result, there haven't been many changes to the design throughout time.
Spine, center beam, and well cars are all examples of flatcars in use today. Flatcars are still in use today, transporting anything from machinery and equipment to large loads of pipe and steel beams.
Flatcars, as the name suggests, are flat. There is a flat floor or deck attached to two trucks in a flatcar. Decks may include spaces for stakes or tie-down points to secure heavy loads. Other than their lack of sides and a roof, flatcars are completely exposed to the weather.
Flatcars function to transport freight that cannot be transported on other rail car types due to their height, width, length, or weight. It's called a "dimensional load" or a "hi-wide cargo" and includes items like military equipment, agricultural equipment, industrial components, piping, steel beams, and railroad lines.
3. Products Move by Train To a Warehouse
Containers are often transported by rail in container well cars in North America. These vehicles resemble flatcars, but the most recent models include a depression in the center (between the "trucks" or bogies") that is the size of a container.
Because of this depression, two containers may be put into the automobile in a "double stack" configuration. For the newest container cars, two components are joined by a single bogie instead of two bogies, one on each car.
They are mainly manufactured as a tiny articulated "unit," usually in components of three or five. In certain places of Australia, double stacking is also used. Due to the limited capacity of the loading gauge on certain older lines, well cars must be used for heavy containers.
“Piggybacking”
"Piggybacking" or "TOFC" (trailer on flatcar) is also a prevalent practice in North America for transporting semi-trailers on railway flatcars or spine cars (COFC). As a result, particular flatbed trucks are intended for trailer and container transportation use.
Trailers may be pushed onto these flatcars from one end, but it is customary for specialist loaders to lift trailers onto and off flatcars. Trailers may be stored in huge spaces at TOFC terminals until loaded or picked up.
Double-stack Transport
Double-stack rail transport may be employed if the rail line has been constructed with appropriate vertical clearance. Double-stacking is usually not viable in areas with overhead electric wire. The necessity to fit beneath overhead cables for the traction engine's electrical power supply limits the height of the railcars. The railcar's small wheels create a need for a low construction height so limit the height. Because wheel wear-out causes boogers to degrade, the system has a cost disadvantage.
Flatcars and Container Well Cars
Flatcars and container well cars may be used to transport containers by rail. Containers cannot be stacked two high on European railroads due to tighter height limits (lower loading gauge and structural gauge) and overhead electrification.
Instead, they are transported high on flatcars or other railroad cars. Well cars (rather than stacks) transport taller containers on older European railway lines when the loading gauge is minimal.
What Are the Benefits of Intermodal Transportation?
Internationally, intermodal transport is preferred because it reduces emissions of CO2, particle pollution, and nitrous oxide (N2O) while also using less diesel fuel when natural resources are becoming scarcer.
Using intermodal transportation may reduce highway traffic. For example:
- There is less noise pollution
- Better delivery time notifications
- The elimination of highway traffic and customs procedures
- More efficient planning processes
- Predictable departure times
- Higher service quality standards
- Relatively easy planning
- Support for large-scale projects
There are several benefits to intermodal transportation that shippers may use to increase the efficiency of their whole transportation chain.
Intermodal Shipping Can Save You Money
Intermodal may save a significant amount of money depending on the length of the trip and the distance from the rail ramps to the shipper/consignee. It is more cost-effective to travel great distances. Due to the factors listed below, intermodal transport can save you up to 10-40% of costs.
- Intermodal uses trains to move freight across the land, resulting in lower fuel costs. Rail travel is the most fuel-efficient method of land transportation, which means cheaper fuel expenses.
- Transporting goods via intermodal transport results in lower handling costs since the goods remain in the container until they are delivered to their final destination. Because of this, there is less handling and hence reduced handling fees.
- Transporting goods by rail reduces the cost per metric ton, making it a more cost-effective method of transportation.
Intermodal Shipping Gives You More Transport Capacity
In particular, on high-volume freight channels, intermodal transportation offers enormous potential. When truck capacity is constrained or drivers are in limited supply, the utilization of rail transportation may provide a considerable capacity procurement benefit. Intermodal's operational nature explains this.
It's not uncommon for a dray to go less than 100 miles between the ramps where it starts and ends. Compared to a truckload, a single driver may handle many shipments in a day. Rail carriages can increase the capacity of containers by stacking them on top of each other. On the other hand, a truckload allows a single driver to drive a truck 2,000–3,000 miles before switching to another load.
It is also more convenient to travel by train, bus, and plane. Shippers may save between 10% and 30% by shipping intermodal instead of OTR, and they can expect the same level of efficiency and reliability.
Containers are now equipped with tracking and tracing features. In the past, shippers were kept in the dark about the arrival schedule of their shipments for three days. Intermodal service selection and model comparison are simpler and more accurate since visibility into cargo status is just the same as shipping OTR.
Intermodal Shipping Can be Eco-Friendly
Intermodal shipping is one of the most environmentally friendly methods of moving goods. Using rail in intermodal provides environmental and fuel efficiency benefits and a lower environmental effect.
Rail is the most cost-effective mode of transportation on land. Based on data from the AAR, rail can transport 1 ton of freight more than 475 miles on a single gallon of gasoline.
First and foremost, rail is more cost-effective than trucks for moving goods. The US Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA) estimates that one intermodal train can carry the equivalent of 280 truckloads of freight.
Finally, using intermodal transportation may significantly minimize the carbon footprint of shippers. For greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the US Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA) estimates that rail is one and a half to five times more efficient than trucks.
Intermodal Transport Is Ideal for Long-Distance Shipping
A company's delivery times may be shortened by using intermodal transportation. For lengthy distances, the firm may use the quickest form of transportation.
Using containers also facilitates the movement of commodities between modes of transportation. Faster delivery may also connect to shorter loading and unloading periods.
Shippers may save money on long-distance intermodal shipments of 700 miles or more because of intermodal's cost reductions.
You Can Transport Virtually Anything With Intermodal Shipping
Even though intermodal transportation has been around for decades, certain operations need a higher level of individualized care and consideration. Your shipping experience may change depending on various circumstances, including the location of your organization, the shipping destination, the shipment's contents, and any timing constraints.
Most organizations cannot grow their logistics operations to meet the fluctuating yearly demand. On the other hand, companies are less likely to face this problem if they make use of intermodal transportation.
It takes 280 vehicles to transport the same weight as a single train. A full fleet of vehicles is at your disposal. In addition, having a well-developed rail system will make it simpler to transport goods throughout the nation.
Because freight is carried in containers, there is less handling and less risk of damage. Hazardous goods may also be transported more safely by train. According to the American Association of Railroads, for 99.999% of hazmat transported by rail, there is no discharge due to a train accident. This makes rail a safe option.
What To Do Next
While intermodal transportation is surely beneficial, it can very quickly become chaotic as well as many moving parts need to work together to make a successful delivery. Hence, choosing the right freight partner is crucial.
At RPM, we understand the importance of timely and, more importantly, safe delivery. Our robust Carrier network and powerful industry relationships ensure the entire intermodal transportation process is carried out smoothly.
To learn more about our services or get a custom quote for your shipment, reach out to our experts now.
Sources:
INTERMODAL TRANSPORTATION IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE By Arthur Donovan* INTRODUCTION | University of Denver
Transportation that built Chicago: The importance of the railroads | Chicago Curbed
Intermodal Rail 101: Part Two | CSXT Intermodal
