When it comes to international intermodal shipping, the freight goes into 20-ft or 40-ft containers and is then moved using trucks and sea carriers. The cargo lies in the same container throughout the transit until it shows up at the final location.
But how does the cargo move in international intermodal freight transport? A usual freight movement cycle begins with a truck picking up a shipping container from the shipper’s warehouse and hauling it to a port. As this container lands at its destination port or railyard, a second truck takes it to the consignee’s warehouse, which is its final stop.
Here’s how intermodal shipping via ship works:
- The concerned personnel load the products into the container
- They then place the container on the chassis of a truck
- After that, the truck hauls the container to the drayage (intermodal ramp)
- The personnel then take the container off the truck chassis at the ramp and load it onto a lined-up ship
- The freight container can be loaded onto indonesia phone number list another truck chassis as it arrives at the destination port. It can then be moved to the consignee’s storage facility.
Domestic Intermodal Freight Transport
In domestic intermodal shipments, the freight moves in a 53 ft container through rail. Sometimes, the containers arrive in 20 or 40 ft load units via international intermodal, and hence, they need to be shifted to 53-foot rail containers for domestic travel.
This load then passes through transloading and cross-docking and finally to the distribution facility. When it reaches its inland destination, the cargo is labelled as domestic intermodal.
If the freight needs to travel further by rail before reaching its final destination, it’s transloaded into a 53 ft railcar.
Here’s the step-by-step movement of domestic intermodal shipments by train:
- At the transloading facility, the shipping personnel loads the cargo into a 53-foot railcar. This loading can take place at a cross-docking or rail distribution facility near the port.
- After the loading, the cargo then moves to the intermodal rail yard nearest to the shipment’s end destination.
- The personnel then offload the container onto a truck chassis at the yard, or they further load or split-load into containers of different sizes. The trucks then carry these containers to the consignee’s warehouse.
Historical Evolution of Intermodal Transportation
To have a clear picture of the benefits of using intermodal freight transport, it’s important to go through its history and evolution over time.
The intermodal freight transport showed up in International Intermodal Freight the early 1950s when gateways to international trade markets opened, and the need for efficiently transporting bulk goods became prominent. During World War II, US military personnel created elevated wooden bases called pallets to safely carry and transport goods. The pallets effectively reduced handling times, as well as protected the products from damage. Word-of-mouth about the effectiveness of using pallets spread like wildfire. However, intermodal freight transport was yet to take full shape.
In 1956, Malcolm Mclean, an entrepreneur, came up with a revolutionary breakthrough. He thought loading the entire truck directly onto the cargo vessel was a good idea? This is how modern shipping containers came to life, with a better and faster loading and unloading system. It was then that the revolutionary entrepreneur realised the enormous potential of intermodal freight transport.
Role of ISO Containers in Intermodal Freight
The actual win-win, however, was never the containers themselves. It was the concept of getting all the transportation components to intermingle with the containers. In 1967, the (ISO) International Organization for Standardization declared a lgpd and e-commerce: key points to consider when launching your online store standard for containers, popularly known as ISO containers for intermodal freight transport.
These containers have specific dimensions and a numbering system using codes that enable quick identification. As time lapsed and intermodal freight transport evolved, the organisation added new types of ISO containers, like refrigerated tank containers. These additions further helped modify and improve intermodal freight transport.
Modes of Transportation in Intermodal Freight
There are four standard ways of conducting intermodal freight transport: rail, road, sea, and air routes. However, all these modes work differently in International Intermodal Freight the countries that use intermodal cargo transport.
Rail
Rail transport uses railroad tracks for the movement of goods in International Intermodal Freight large quantities. It has the potential to aero leads transport items across distant ports rapidly, where huge cranes are on standby to transmute the loads to trucks.