A transportation chain is basically partitioned in three segments:
pre-haul (or first mile for the pickup process), long-haul
(door-to-door transit of containers), and end-haul (or last mile for
the delivery process). In most cases, the pre-haul and end-haul
transportation is carried out via road, but for the long-haul transportation,
road, rail, air and water modes can be considered. As
pointed out, long-haul transportation usually involves combining
different modes, but also in pre- and end-haul transportation, more
and more multimodal systems are observed (using a combination
of trucks and bicycles in city logistics, for instance).