Unit 20 the near future of the freight movements

The 21st century will see a renewed focus on intermodal freight transportation driven by the changing requirements of global supply chains. Each of the transportation modes (air, inland water, ocean, pipeline, rail, and road) has gone through technological evolution and has functioned separately under a modally based regulatory structure for most of the 20th century. With the development of

of the century, and a new focus on logistics and global supply chain requirements, the stage is set for continued intermodal transportation growth.

The term “intermodal” has been used in many applications that include passenger transportation and the containerization of freight. A more descriptive term for this process would be “multimodal,” because of a lack of effective and efficient connectivity for both freight and information among and between the various modes on shipments under a single freight bill. Intermodal freight transport is defined as the use of two or more modes to move a shipment from origin to destination.

Intermodal transportation, with the options of integrating multiple modes, provides a flexible response to the changing supply chain management requirements in global markets and distribution systems.

Intermodal transport, as it moves from a focus on infrastructure components to a holistic focus on process or systems, will have more viability and applicability in the world of global supply chain management. A supply chain is defined as a set of three or more organizations directly linked by one or more of the upstream and downstream flows of products, services, finances, and information from a source to

a customer, and supply chain management is defined as the systemic, strategic coordination of the traditional business functions and the tactics across these business functions within a particular company and across businesses within the supply chain, for the purposes of improving the long-term performance of the individual companies and the supply chain as a whole.

Intermodal transport continues to be significant in the movement of freight. The railroad industry reports an approximately fivefold growth in trailer and container traffic on the railroads from 1999 to 2009.

Although trailer and container traffic is frequently foremost in mind when intermodal transport is discussed, it is important to note that many other commodities can in fact be intermodal shipments. For example, all grain moves off the farm by truck before being connected to those movements that will continue by water or rail, and a significant portion of grain transported by rail goes to water transportation. Many other bulk or semibulk commodities such as fertilizers and building products move intermodally. Another intermodal bulk commodity is coal, which goes by road, rail, or river before transfer to rail and river for domestic delivery or to ocean for export

Overall, intermodal transport, both containerized and multiple-mode noncontainerized, has performed satisfactorily in the last half of the 20th century as logistics has grown as a profession and responded to deregulation. Customers in the future will be indifferent to global sourcing issues and will expect their order to be delivered to the right place, at the right time, in the right condition, and for the right profit.

In order to fully understand this global role and permit effective and efficient planning, response, and resource investment for intermodal transport, accurate and appropriate measurements must exist. Most measurements have focused on containerized intermodal transport. The 21st century needs to have a set of measures for the broader definition of intermodalism.

Future resource investments, education, and training will require full understanding of the actual and potential interaction between modes that affects the entire transport industry and the infrastructure and information technology that supports and enables effective and efficient execution of intermodalism in global supply chains.