Intermodal freight transport is a form of transportation that involves the movement of goods using multiple modes of transportation, such as air, rail, ship, and truck. The term "intermodal" refers to the use of multiple modes of transportation, as opposed to a single mode.

Intermodal freight transport can offer a number of benefits compared to using a single mode of transportation. It can provide greater flexibility, as goods can be moved between different modes of transportation as needed. It can also be more cost-effective, as it allows businesses to take advantage of lower rates on different modes of transportation at different times.

Intermodal freight transport can involve the use of intermodal containers, which are standardized containers that can be easily transferred between different modes of transportation. These containers allow goods to be loaded and unloaded efficiently, without the need to repackage or handle the goods separately.

Intermodal freight transport is an important part of the global logistics industry, as it allows businesses to move goods efficiently and cost-effectively between different regions and countries.

There are 5 options for Intermodal freight:

Air Transport

Long distance transportation from airport to airport by an air freighter.

Ocean Transport

Long distance transportation from port to port by an ocean carrier. If speed is not your priority, or you have a large number of containers to be shipped at the same time, ship can often be a good option.

Road Transport

In most cases of transport (pre-carriage and on-carriage) is made use of road transport. Especially for short distances road transport is the most efficient, or in some cases the only possibility, to transport your cargo.
A regular haulier can take care of all the door-to-door shipments.

Barge Transport

From a cost-efficient and environmentally conscious perspective, the inland waterway transport (barging) is a good alternative to road transport. If speed is not your priority, or you have a large number of containers to be shipped at the same time, barging can often be a good option.

Rail Transport

As with barging applies, rail transport has a relatively low CO2 emission compared to other modalities. Especially for longer distances and shipments of large numbers of containers, rail transport may be a good alternative to road transport.

Combined Transport

A disadvantage of rail transport and barging is that a reliable and efficient inland waterway/ rail network is not present everywhere. For example in African countries, we see that road transport is often the only mode of transport to achieve a complete door delivery.

In practice, it turns out that the foregoing modes are often combined. For example:

• The first part of the delivery by truck (pick up container at supplier)
• Delivery of container at ICD (Inland Container Depot)
• Transport from ICD to port terminal (by barge)
• From port to port (by ocean carrier)
• From port to ICD (by rail)
• Last part of the delivery by truck (from ICD to final destination)