TRENDS IN INTERMODAL FREIGHT TRANSPORT

Today “intermodal” is often associated with a variety of transportation activities and is often
used to refer many of the important overall advances in freight transportation and logistics of
recent years.
Freight transportation is a joint enterprise of the private sector and government. Private firms
provide nearly all the direct service to shippers and own transportation equipment’s and some
portions of the infrastructure. The government provides major infrastructure components like
ports and harbors, airports and airways, and inland waterways.
The transportation industry is rapidly changing due to technological advances and search for
faster and cheaper ways to transport freight across the globe.
Intermodal freight transport is a system for transporting goods, particularly over longer distances
and across international borders, which uses a combination of two or more individual modes,
such as road haulage and rail freight, or road haulage and inland waterway barge, to achieve the
most economic, efficient and environmentally-friendly delivery of loads to their destination.

Rail-
Rail- Intermodal rail technology has changed rapidly especially in the areas of automation and
flat car equipment. Most advances have been incremental changes to existing technologies.
Articulated cars represent the type of technology. Articulated cars are light in weight, have lower
purchase prices, are less expensive to maintain, and prevent cargo damage by eliminating most
slack action and roll dynamics between cars.
The government and rail industry are developing Intelligent railroad System that will incorporate
evolving information into train operations and maintenance. Some of them are client service
system and a train control and dispatching system. Other developments are Nationwide
Differential Global Positioning System (NDGPS), Positive Train Control (PTC), electronically
controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes, automatic equipment identification tags for all equipment’s,
way side equipment sensors to identify defects on passing trains, and intelligent grade crossings
to reduce grade crossing collisions.

Motor Carriers
Most of the advances in this mode are in fuel efficient factors and lighter and stronger trailers
with increased cargo capacity. Also the commercial vehicle operations(CVO) initiative, which is
a part of the intelligent Transportation system is expected to improve administrative efficiency,
highway data collection, safety and reduce operating costs to commercial vehicles.

Aviation-
Aviation continues to expand its role in intermodal freight transportation in shipment of high
value and time sensitive cargo. Large aircrafts like Boeing 747-400 freighter and
MD-11 and now Russia’s Antonov-124, can accommodate 20 and 40 foot international
organization for standardization (ISO) ocean containers. However until lighter and stronger sea
air containers are developed and used, the additional handling cost of transferring cargos
between the heavier ISO ocean containers and the ISO air containers will continue to be more
costly than all ocean service. To accommodate this growth and enhance safety the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) is engaged in a comprehensive program to modernize Air Traffic
(ATS) Control System. This includes replacing radar surveillance systems, modernizing voice
communication systems introducing enhanced automated navigation aids, data links, and
improved weather systems.
Water ways
Today’s containers vessels have 50 % more cargo capacity than those of 1975 and some are
triple the size. An 8000 twenty foot equivalent unit (TEU) ship was developed in 1997 and
13000 TEU ship design is currently being studied. When these ships were produced in 1970s,
they required many waterways and ports to be deepened to accommodate the increasing drafts of
these vessels
Equipment
Containers, also known as intermodal containers or as ISO containers because the dimensions
have been defined by the ISO, are the main type of equipment used in intermodal transport,
particularly when one of the modes of transportation is by ship.
Containers are eight feet (2438 mm) wide by eight feet (2438 mm) high. Since introduction,
there have been moves to adopt other heights, such as eight feet six inches (2591 mm), nine feet
six inches (2896 mm) and ten feet six inches (3200 mm). The most common lengths are 20 feet
(6096 mm) nominal or 19 feet - 10½ in (6058 mm) actual, 40 feet (12192 mm), 48 feet (14630
mm) and 53 feet (16154 mm), although other lengths exist. They are made out of steel and can
be stacked on top of each other (a popular term for a two-high stack is "double stack"). On ships
they are typically stacked up to seven units high. They can be carried by truck, rail, container
ship, or aero plane. When carried by rail, containers can be loaded on flatcars or in container well
cars. In Europe, stricter railway height restrictions (smaller loading gauge and structure gauge)
prohibit containers from being stacked two high, and containers are hauled one high either on
standard flatcars or other railroad cars.
Open-topped versions covered by a fabric curtain are used to transport larger loads. A container
called a tanktainer, consisting of a tank fitted inside a standard container frame, allows liquids to
be carried. Refrigerated containers are used for perishables. There is also the swap body, which
is typically used for road and rail transport, as they are built too lightly to be stacked. They have
folding legs under their frame so that they can be moved between trucks without using a crane.

INTERRELATIONSHIPS OF INTERMEDIARIES
While the intermodal industry has experienced strong growth over much of the last two decades,
the industry has had a number of service problems that may prevent predicted growth from
occurring. Many of these service problems relate to the structure of the intermodal industry and
conflict between the intermediaries. This conflict has prevented the close coordination and
communications needed to optimize efficiency within the industry.

The industry is structured around each individual mode of transportation and because of
intermodal transfers often require the coordination of government entities and multiple private
entities, physical and organizational bottlenecks sometimes develop the affect the performance of
the entire freight system.
Conflict between the intermediaries, who in the past have functioned predominantly within their
own respective mode, has impeded the formation of mechanisms to coordinate access to
intermodal equipment, facilities, and the flow of information between modes during intermodal
operations

TECHNOLOGIES IN INTERMODAL FREIGHT MANAGEMENT

Developments in advanced technologies have been the greatest factor which influenced changes
in intermodal freight transportation. Some of the advanced technologies which have thoroughly
transformed the nation’s transportation system are information technology used in freight
transportation system.

Information Technology-
Information technology plays an important part in intermodal freight transport. IT has enabled its
users to plan, track audit and document intermodal shipments in real time.
Intermodal freight movement is increasingly become mode invisible as the ability to interconnect
and interchange information among the modes is optimized.
The Transportation efficiency act for the 21st century focused on maturing information
technologies and their development. The U.S department of Transportation (DOT) created the
Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) architecture and drafting of related standards. ITS
represents the application of advanced technologies involving information processing,
electronics and communications, and management strategies, to improve intermodal
transportation system.
DOT was required to develop intermodal transportation data base (ITDB). The ITDB provides a
single data mining portal from all the Bureau of transportation statistics (BTS) and DOT
operating units.
The website www.bts.gov will provide analysts and the public with transportation safety,
demographics, travel, and economic statistics.
As companies connect, the growing use of internet and the trends in electronic commerce appear
to be improving the visibility of inventory and its location within supply chains.

VEHICLE AND CARGO TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES

Cargo Tracking Technologies include Bar Code with Laser Read out, Magnetic Card and Strip
Reader, Smart Cards, Radio Frequency Cards, Transponders and Readers. Vehicle
Tracking Technologies mainly employ the use of the positional information from the
Global Position System (GPS) which provides real-time tracking of the vehicle and cargo

BETTER INTERMODAL FLEET MANAGEMENT THROUGH TRACKING

AND LOGISTICS
Radiolocation or Navigational Systems have emerged with well-developed cellular or
communication channels. This combines Automated Vehicle Location (AVL) with paging, voice
and data communication to a national or regional dispatch and logistics node.

ELECTRONIC DATA INTERCHANGE (EDI)

EDI, systems take information from all available sources and make decisions and performs
controls to maximize efficiency. EDI systems can minimize unnecessary paperwork by providing
facility to perform transactions on-line.

EMERGING AND FUTURE TRENDS FOR INTERMODAL FREIGHT AND

FLEET MANAGEMENT OPERATIONS
INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM (ITS)
Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) is a system that improves transportation safety and
mobility and enhances productivity through the use of advanced communications technologies.
Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) encompass a broad range of wireless and wire line
communications-based information and electronics technologies. When integrated into the
transportation system's infrastructure, and in vehicles themselves, these technologies relieve
congestion, improve safety and enhance productivity.
ITS is one of the major emerging Intermodal Freight and Fleet Management Operations
technology.
ITS offers the following benefits:
•Increase of operational efficiency and capacity of the transportation system.
•Enhancement of personal mobility, convenience, and comfort.
•Improvement of safety of the transportation system.
•Reduction of energy consumption and environmental costs.
•Enhancement of the present and future economic productivity of individuals, organizations and
the economy as a whole

Vehicle information, Intermodal Freight Depot information and Intermodal Freight

Shipper Information is continuously available with the Fleet and Freight Management System
(ITS). Driver can request data and status information from the Fleet and Freight Management
System (ITS). Automated updates about traffic, weather, or schedule updates are provided via
messages or alerts to the driver from the Fleet and Freight Management System (ITS).

INTERMODAL CONTAINER TECHNOLOGIES

Along with the development of the transportation systems there is also a need for the
standardization and modularization of container design.
Not only is the container size increasing but also the design is evolving to make containers
stackable, roll able and solid able onto freight carriers like ships, trucks, etc.
Recent innovations have included the use of advanced materials for higher capacity, lower
weight, better performance and life.

Other innovations have incorporated various electronic and mechanical design changes for
transportation of different kinds of goods. Examples: Refrigeration for perishable goods, thermal
protection, climate control, etc.
Since 1984, a mechanism for intermodal shipping known as double-stack rail transport has
become increasingly common. Rising to the rate of nearly 70% of intermodal shipments, it
transports more than one million containers per year. The double-stack rail cars unique design
also significantly reduced damage in transit, and provided greater cargo security by cradling the
lower containers so their doors cannot be opened. And a succession of large, new domestic
container sizes was introduced to further enhance shipping productivity for customers. As early
as the 1970s, double stack designs and equipment were introduced, but the cars were heavy and
uneconomical to operate.
A common standard for containers would help ports to have standardized equipment resulting in
streamline of the transfer processes. It exploits technologies like tracking, control and
communication to form integrated carriers like FedEx.

ADVANCED CONTROL AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES

Technologies have been integrated with real-time control and logistics decision-making
software; this approach is becoming widely adopted by trucking firms and distribution service
providers. This concept has produced successful organizations like Fed-Ex, DHL, UPS etc.
Technology-based improvements such as real-time grade crossing supervision and warning
systems, supervisory control distributed networks; solid-state interlocking controls will enhance
railroad safety operational efficiency.

CONCLUSION
Intermodal Freight and Fleet Management Operation is the future of the transportation that
promises a seamless intermodal transportation system that is efficient, safe, flexible, and
environmentally sound, and meets the needs of the travelers and industry alike.
There are several important reasons why governments need to be actively involved in advanced
Intermodal freight transportation.
The availability of quality-focused, cost-effective intermodal freight transportation services can
affect how well the firms in a region can compete economically in the battlefield of regional and
global economic competition. Thus, jobs, incomes, and growth all depend significantly on
logistics capabilities. Governments have an interest in promoting inter-modal freight
transportation expertise: in stimulating the development of up to date intermodal freight
transportation services providers; and in reducing regulatory and other barriers to the ability of
providers to offer attractive services. Intermodal freight transportation services and the fees paid
by service providers for facilities, transportation, and information services, and taxes can be
important sources of revenues to governments.
Actions in the intermodal freight transportation domain can have important environmental,
health, and safety consequences and these are important concerns of governments. Often,
governments are the major providers of transportation infrastructure that supports the provision
of inter-modal freight transportation services, such as air and ocean cargo facilities, intermodal
transfer terminals, and others.
For some modes, the levels of congestion and delays in transportation and terminals are an
important issue. Therefore, governments are actively involved in planning, investment, pricing,
and/or operational decisions that influence the provision of capacity and the pricing and time
dependent availability of facilities and services.

Often, the logistics services sector is a sector with many small and medium-sized enterprises. In
many countries, governments are concerned with viability and survival of such enterprises, and
want to ensure this survival through providing awareness programs, educational and resource-
expansion export.

Although freight transportation has benefited from improvements in information and equipment
technologies over the past years, the progress linking the evolving information and transportation
systems has been slowed by lack of network infrastructure, and lack of expertise in some sectors
that participate in the freight transportation system.