As the Intermodal business expands so does the definition of intermodal.
Recently there have been a number of announcements about new facilities that are intermodal, multimodal, transload or even cross-docking. And often these terms are used interchangeably lending to the confusion of the actual meaning of the terms in the supply chain. It’s understandable.
Take for example, the announcement in June by Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) that they were going to build an intermodal facility on 1770 acres in Phoenix, Arizona to serve as a “transfer hub for rail shipments via standardized containers and trailers.” For BNSF, which already runs the largest American intermodal facility in the Port of Los Angeles, this complimentary facility would act like an inland port. In this case, the “transfer facility” is equivalent to an intermodal facility. But that isn’t how it always works.
Of course, the crisscross of terminology isn’t confined to North America. Recently, Singapore’s PSA International’s, subsidiary PSA Baltics announced it had acquired (pending approvals) an 85% stake in Loconi International, which operates Loconi Intermodal, an intermodal logistics provider. The idea is to expand the rail products from the Baltic Hub Container Terminal in Gdańsk, Poland.
Variations on a theme
Intermodal is a confusing term as it is applied to many unrelated activities. The widest definition it simply means moving from one form of conveyance to another - as simple as moving from a train to a car or a car to a bike. Really the term is just a substitute expression for “multimodal” which is frequently used to pull the entire logistics business under one umbrella idiom. And in many cases, intermodal became an ad hoc term for containerization - a word somewhat out of usage. There is some logic behind the switch in expressions as the container frequently moves from truck or rail to ship back to truck or rail, using a number of modes to move from source to ultimate consumer of the goods. But adding to the confusing terminology surrounding intermodal are words like transloading and cross-docking.
Transloading is very similar to intermodal shipping in that products are transferred between trucks and trains – except that with transloading, products are moved between conveyances rather than staying in the same container the whole way. It is a particularly important feature of North American rail services as many of the products moved are effectively “break bulk” freight. Often times a facility that handles “intermodal” also does transloading as an additional service.
Cross-docking is also an important service within rail logistics. Essentially, cross-docking removes the “storage” link of the supply chain. Products are unloaded from a truck or railroad car, sorted, and directly reloaded onto outbound trucks or rail cars to continue their journey. Products going to the same destination can easily be consolidated into fewer transport vehicles. Alternatively, large shipments are broken down into smaller groups for easier delivery. The end result in both scenarios is a leaner, more efficient supply chain.
So, what exactly is intermodal? For most working in the supply chain, it is simply moving boxes from truck to rail and back again. But as intermodal service packages become more complex and intermodal hubs grow to handle traffic, new terms will undoubtedly emerge to help describe the way the freight is being moved.
