Intermodal Transportation

Intermodal transportation involves joint systems, point to point, and moving freight by using two or more modes of transportation. Usually, transportation modes include water, air, truck and railroad. Intermodal transportation positively influences the global economy by controlling the way the movement of the customer’s goods. Nevertheless, some factors need to be kept in consideration to avoid restricting the value of intermodal transportation.

Many freight forwarders favor intermodal transportation because of lower cost and increased security of the products being transported. Moreover, shippers can take advantage of lower rates, more predictable pricing, and the flexibility of loading and unloading goods in a dropped trailer environment, which reduces handling costs. Intermodal transportation is actually one of the top five trends impacting the transportation industry today. For the past couple of years, the transportation industry has been hit with driver shortages, increased demand, shrinking truck capacity and increased fuel prices. This is forcing shippers who would otherwise refrain from using multiple modes of transportation to rethink their logistic strategies.

The reasons intermodal transportation is gaining momentum include cost savings, environmental benefits, and highway safety results. Shippers can take advantage of lower rates, more predictable pricing, and the flexibility of loading and unloading goods in a drooped trailer environment, which reduces handling cost saving can greatly outweigh the speed by which shippers can move their goods via truck.

Intermodal transportation also provides shippers more access to equipment and standardized transit schedules. This translates into reliability, capacity and safety advantages. As companies move their fright to intermodal, they will also be able to reduces damage claims through containerization, streamline their reverse logistics and increase control of their supply chain management.

When looking at logistics strategies to deal with tightening truck capacity, company executives need to seriously look at how intermodal transportation can benefit their business. It provides significant cost savings, increased reliability, greater capacity, and offers substantial green and safety advantages.