

Having one agent responsible for the freight is even referred to as "door-to-door" coverage, meaning your shipment is secured by one company.Ī single-contract mode will save you hours of freight management and bring the operational cost down. The tricky part of managing a supply chain is tracking and holding individual shippers and suppliers accountable for delays and wasted resources. Speaking of contractual obligations, a multimodal movement also means that only one agent or provider is responsible for the movement of the freight. Keeping the movement down to a single contract means better overall control of transit and less contracts-related work for your legal department.

Coordination with multiple carriers can decrease efficiency and lead to loading and shipment delays. Talking to one carrier company or service is enough to make freight logistics complicated. Multimodal movement wins over intermodal movement due to much clearer communication. Communicationįirst and foremost, we need to talk about coordination. In addition to making the entire shipping process easier in terms of contract obligations, multimodal shipping comes with more benefits. Let's look at some other benefits this type of freight can offer. Much like supplier relationship management, it can add a huge chunk of work to an already busy logistics operation.ĭealing with just one contractor instead of multiple carriers is the reason companies can opt for multimodal shipping. At the same time, it requires more time for negotiations with carriers. The main benefit of intermodal shipping is that it's cheaper than multimodal transport. Each carrier does their part in getting the container to the destination but they don't get to remove cargo from one container and put it in a different carriage. The key part of an intermodal shipment is that carriers handle one and the same freight container. The difference is that you have to deal with multiple carriers and contracts too. Intermodal transportation is a type of transportation that also requires the coordination of multiple modes of transport. To fully define multimodal transportation, we need to establish what intermodal shipping means. the freight will be moved from a container to the pallets in a truck because of multimodal transport constraints. Unlike intermodal shipping, multimodal shipping allows for the cargo to be handled differently depending on the responsible carrier.Į.g. The provider relies on a network of smaller carriers or contractors to do the job, but it's still a single-contract process for the shipper opting for multimodal transport. Multimodal transport is handled by a single carrier aka a multimodal transport operator or provider. These are three modes of transport used in combination to complete a shipment. Multimodal transportation or multimodal shipping refers to logistics and freight processes that require multiple modes of transportation.įor example, one shipment may involve rail carriers, air cargo freight, as well as a truck carrier. Today, we're looking at multimodal transportation: what it is, what's the difference between multimodal and intermodal transportation, and what some of the biggest challenges and solutions related to multimodal transportation are. This is true for its market size, geographical reach, variety of modes of transport, types of transportation services, and the number of shippers involved in supply chains worldwide.
