Sea-rail is a main type of intermodal transportation for most of the world. The
rapid development of China’s economic and international trade has enhanced the
demands for container transportation. In China, however, the percentage of sea-rail
transportation is low compared to water-and-road transportation. This limits the
opportunities for multimodal development there. In fact, for much of the globe,
containerized rail shipments constitute a large percentage of rail logistics, e.g.,
about 49 % in the United States, 40 % in France, 30 % in England, 35 % in India.
However, that figure is only 2.2 % for China. In developed countries, the sea-rail
percentage can reach from 20 to 40 %, while it is only 1.5 % in China (Sea-rail
logistics 2008)