TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT
INTERMODAL
TRANSPORTMANAGEM
ENT
THE BASIC MODES OF TRANSPORTATION
AND TRANSPORTATION SERVICE PROVIDERS
1) Road Transportation / Motor Carriers
2) Ocean Transportation /Water Carriers
3) Railway Transportation / Railroads
4) Air Transportation /Air Carriers
5) Pipeline Transportation
TRANSPORTATION
The demand for transport is derived from the demand
for other things. Certain forms of transport, such as pleasure
cruises and holiday travel, may be regarded as ‘consumer
services’; but the basic function of transport, involving
economic, social or military needs, is the creation of utilities of
place; i.e. the carriage of goods from places where their utility
is low to places where it is higher.
The value of a little more oil at Kuwait is relatively low,
while the value at a United Kingdom oil refinery is
correspondingly higher.
Motor Carriers
 High accessibility
 Transit times faster than rail
or water.
 Reliability can be affected
greatly by weather.
 Small vehicle size coincides
with lower inventory
strategies and quick
replenishment (QR).
 Relatively high cost
compared to rail and water;
trade-off is faster service.
Motor Carriers_Commodities
 Motor carrier vehicles, both for-hire and private, primarily
transport manufactured, high value products.
 These vehicles carry more than a majority of the various
manufactured commodity categories.
 Food products
 Manufactured products
 Consumer goods
 Industrial goods
 Sheep,lambs,cattle
 Motor carriers transport less of commodities such as grain,
primary nonferrous metal products, motor vehicles and
equipments; because they move long distances generally and in
large volumes.
Water Carriers (Domestic)
 Available along the Atlantic, Gulf
and Pacific coasts, along the
Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee
and Ohio River systems and the
Great Lakes.
 Regulated common and contract
carriers haul about 5% of the freight,
while private and exempt carriers
haul the other 95% of the ton-miles.
 Compete with railroads for the
movement of bulk commodities
(eg:grains) and with pipelines for the
movement of bulk petroleum
Water Carriers (Domestic)
 Relatively low cost mode; do not
own the rights-of-way; easy entry
and exit.
 Typically a long distance mover
of low value, bulk-type mineral,
agricultural and forest products
 Low rates but long transit times
 Low accessibility but high
capability
International Water Carriers
 General cargo ships
 Large high capacity cargo
holds
 Engaged on a contract basis
 Many have self-contained
cranes for loading/unloading
 Bulk carriers
 Specially designed to haul
minerals
 Can handle multiple cargoes
International Water Carriers
 Tankers
 Specially designed for liquid
cargoes
 Largest vessels afloat, some
Very Large Crude Carriers
 Container ships
 High speeds for ships;
increasingly more common and
important
 Larger vessels can handle up to
15,000 containers.
International Water Carriers
 RO-RO (Roll on-Roll off)
 Basically a large ferry that
facilitates the loading and
unloading process by using drive
on/off ramps
 May also have the capacity to haul
containers
 Other
 Multipurpose carriers
 Barges (not transoceanic)
Railroads
 Reliability and safety are
improving
and are generally good.
 Premium intermodal services
 Straight piggyback and containerized freight
 Double stacks
 RoadRailer service
 Unit train service
 Intermodal Marketing Company (IMC)
 Intermodal shipments become more
attractive as fuel prices escalate and
highway congestion increases.
Railroads_Commodities
 Coal: Railroads are primary haulers of coal.
 Farm products: When considered together,farm and food
products constitue the second largest commodity group
hauled by railroads.
 Chemicals and oil allied products, a great number of
which are classified as “hazardous” by US Department
of Transportation (DOT) are transported in specially
designed tank cars.
 Transportation equipment carloadings, which are linked
to the relative health of the domestic automobile
industry.
Air Carriers
 Cost structure is highly variable; do





not own rights-of-way.
Transit times are the fastest of all
modes, but rates are the highest.
Average revenue per ton mile 18
times higher than rail; twice that of
motor carriers.
Seek goods with a high value to
weight ratio.
Accessibility is low as is capability.
Reliability subject to weather more
than other modes.
Pipelines
 The only mode with no




backhaul; move one direction
through the line.
Accessibility is very low.
Cost structure is highly fixed
with low variable costs.
Own rights-of-way much like
the railroads.
Major advantage is low rates.
Pipelines_Commodities
 Oil and Oil Products
 Natural Gas
 Coal (slurry lines)
 Chemicals
* Ranking for the cost, speed, flexibility and load limits of different
modes of transport
THE BASIC MODES OF TRANSPORTATION
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
Road Transportation
Ocean Transportation
Railway Transportation
Unimodal
Air Transportation
Pipeline Transportation
Mixed Mode Transportation /Co-Modality
Mixed Mode Transportation
Mixed Mode Transportation: Tranportation of the same good/service with using two
or more modes. Classified in;
1)
Multi-modal Transportation:

Using two or more modes

Re-stuffing of the goods in vehicle or box during the mode switch
2)
Intermodal Transportation:

Using two or more modes

No need for re-stuffing of the goods in vehicle or box during the mode
switch
3)
Combined Transportation :

Using road transportatiton both at the start and the end of the process.

Long distance transport via sea or rail.
The aim of mixed mode transportation;
•
Combine the advantages of each modes and
eliminates the disadvantages of the modes used.
•
To reach optimum, composition of parameters
like;
 Cost
 Speed
 Reliability
 Service Quality
Rail
Truck
Air
Water
 Enables shippers to benefit from advantages of multiple
modes of transportation
 minimizes disadvantages of individual modes
Advantages
Air-truck intermodal transportation combines
the advantages of motor carrier’s accessibility
and lower cost with the speed of the air carrier.
 The combined service includes the air carrier’s
high cost and motor carrier’s slow speed.
Intermodal Transportation
Refers to use of two or more modes of
transportation cooperating on the movement of
shipment by publishing a through rate.
Logistics managers are looking for the best way
to move shipments and these often attempt to take
advantage of multiple modes of transportation, each
of which has certain useful characteristics.
Intermodal Transportation
 Biggest disadvantage
is that
reluctant to
carriers are
participate.
 Cultural bias towards using only one mode and this
makes change more difficult.
 Certain types have been fairly well developed, such
as rail/water, motor/water, rail/motor, and motor/air.
Intermodal Transportation:
Containerization
 Goods are placed in a large box, where they
are untouched until they arrive at the
consigee’s unloading dock.
 Reduces theft, damage, multiple handling
costs and intermodal transfer time.
 Changes materials handling from labor
intensive to capital intensive and may reduce
costs from 10 to 20%.
Intermodal Transportation:
Containerization
 “Land
bridge” concept may apply for international
shipments where oceans are separated by a large
land mass.
 For example, containers moving from Japan to
Europe may dock at Long Beach, CA, transfer the
containers to a railroad, and reload the containers
onboard another ship in Norfolk, VA., continuing on
to a European port.
Some of the benefits of containerisation include:
● Simplified transport and flow of goods
● Easier and faster handling
● door-to-door service
● Faster deliveries
● Reduced loss due to damage, misplacement and
pilferage
Types of Intermodal Services
Intermodal Transportation: Piggyback
 Trailer-on-Flat-Car (TOFC)
 Over the road trailers ride
special rail cars.
 Takes advantage of motor
flexibility and rail’s long haul economic
advantage.
 Multiple service plans for shippers.
 Some railroads provide varying levels of
service, differentially priced.
in
Intermodal Transportation:
 Birdybacking:
 Using both road and air modes during the same
shipment.
 Fishybacking:
 Using both road and sea modes during the same
shipment.
 Form of combined transport as RO-RO (Roll On-Roll
Off)
Intermodal Transportation: RoadRailers
 Newest concept referred to as a “RoadRailer”
 Essentially a trailer that has been reinforced to ride on
a rail bogey and be coupled together directly without
first being placed on a rail flat car
 Saves weight and locomotive power and thus fuel for
the railroad
 Special lower rates
 Motor competitive transit times