In this paper a model is developed to analyse and compare the transport
costs of intermodal inland waterway transport and road-only-transport. The
influence of the economies of scale in inland waterway transport and terminal
operations are taken into account in the analysis. In the model the transport
costs are defined and related to different transport operations and conditions
(e.g. share of empty kilometres, capacity usage of terminals, etc.) in order to
analyse the sensitivity of the cost performance of intermodal inland waterway
transport. By doing this it is possible to analyse to what extent intermodal
freight transport is competitive with road-only transport in terms of transport
costs and specific operations and conditions (both in shipping and terminal).
The conclusions prove that roundtrips, drop & pick operations in pre- and
end-haulage and smaller containers (20ft instead of 40ft) considerably
improve the competitiveness of intermodal inland waterway transport, while
the relative high cost operations in small terminals reduce the competitiveness
of intermodal inland waterway transport.