Few studies have been conducted on how intermodal transport of grain
could be introduced into the agricultural sector. The use of intermodal
agricultural transport could help to reduce the intensity of road traffic,
especially during harvesting season. In this way, transport operators could
more effectively focus on parallel activities, while at the same time
achieving environmental improvements.
In the following section, the concept of intermodal transportation will be
presented. This is followed by a general study of the grain industry and
related transports. Finally, the environmental and economical influence of
[grain] transportation will be outlined.
Intermodal transport has gained interest and grown rapidly since the early
1970s. Growth in intermodal movements can be attributed to several
circumstances including industry de-regulation, global business expansion
and the application of new techniques to improve intermodal processes
(Bloomberg & LeMay et al. 2002). Intermodal transport is a field attracting
interest from many actors of widely different character, e.g. transport
operators, politicians, engineers and researchers, and many concepts and
definitions are in use depending on the context and objectives. Thus, it may
be worthwhile to consider some of the definitions in use.
The notion of multimodal transport is generally used for the carriage of
goods by at least two modes. A multimodal transport involves several
modes of transport to move a consignment from the supplier to the
customer. The goods are cross-docked from one mode to the other by using
unitised cargo or a direct shipment to minimise handling costs. Increased
efficiency is attained by the usage of unitised cargo such as containers
(Lumsden 1998). Multimodal transport is by definition not equivalent to
intermodal transport. It is the overarching ìdefinition umbrellaî of which
intermodal transportation is one refined sub-definition and way of
conducting multimodal transportation, however in an integrated manner.