I.

INTRODUCTION

A. Definitions
The basic feature of multimodal transport is that at least two modes of transport are
used.

The definition jointly given by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
(ECE), the European Conference of Ministers of Transport (ECMT) and the European
Commission (EC) is “Multimodal transport: carriage of goods by two or more modes of
transport.”

Sometimes, multimodal transport is connected to the international transport of

containers and the need for transport facilitation. It derives its name from the United Nations
Convention on International Multimodal Transport of Goods of 1980. The definition of the
term “international multimodal transport” is provided in article 1 of the Convention, which
reads as follows:

“International multimodal transport” means the carriage of goods by at least two

different modes of transport on the basis of a multimodal transport contract from a
place in one country at which the goods are taken in charge by the multimodal
transport operator to a place designated for delivery situated in a different country.

It has evolved, however, to have various meanings closely related to multimodal

transport, and these various definitions will be reviewed in turn.

• The most common is that the goods are carried from door to door in the same
intermodal transport unit (ITU), usually a container, but it can be also swap bodies
or piggyback trailers. This is called intermodal transport by ECE, ECMT and the
EC, as well as the International Container and Intermodal Transport Bureau (ICB)
and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). The definition jointly given
by ECE, ECMT and the EC in Terminology on Combined Transport7 is:

1
United Nations, 2001, Terminology on Combined Transport (New York and Geneva).

-1-
 1.1 INTERMODAL TRANSPORT:

The movement of goods in one and the same loading unit or road vehicle, which
uses successively two or more modes of transport without handling the goods
themselves in changing modes.

By extension, the term intermodality has been used to describe a system of

transport whereby two or more modes of transport are used to transport the same
loading unit or truck in an integrated manner, without loading or unloading, in a
[door to door] transport chain.
Intermodal transport is also defined as the use of at least two different modes of
transport in an integrated manner in a door-to-door transport chain.2

• A related term is combined transport. “Combined transport” is defined as

intermodal transport where the major part of the European journey is by rail,
inland waterways or sea and any initial or final legs carried out by road are as
short as possible. This term is used by ECE, ECMT and the EC to cover
environment-friendly intermodal transport, involving as little road transport as
possible, and supported by financial incentives. The definition by the European
Union (EU) is even more precise, as follows:3
For the purposes of this Directive, 'combined transport' means the transport of
goods between Member States where the lorry, trailer, semi-trailer, with or
without tractor unit, swap body or container of 20 feet or more uses the road on
the initial or final leg of the journey and, on the other leg, rail or inland waterway
or maritime services where this section exceeds 100 km as the crow flies and
make the initial or final road transport leg of the journey;

- between the point where the goods are loaded and the nearest suitable rail
loading station for the initial leg, and between the nearest suitable rail
unloading station and the point where the goods are unloaded for the final leg,
or;
- within a radius not exceeding 150 km as the crow flies from the inland
waterway port or seaport of loading or unloading.

2
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2001, Intermodal Freight Transport Institutional
Aspects (Paris).
3
European Union, 1992, Council Directive 92/106/EEC on the establishment of common rules for certain
types of combined transport of goods between Member States (Brussels).

-2-
 At the root, however, the multimodal/intermodal concept is all encompassing to the
point that it applies to passenger transport as well. For example, carefully planning a network
of public transport combining buses, rail and metro (or skytrain) is a multimodal/intermodal
exercise, involving also pedestrian access routes, bicycle lanes, car parks at hubs, appropriate
access roads, etc.

In the United States of America, an Office of Intermodalism was set up in 1992

within the Department of Transportation. It states the following:4

The concepts of "intermodalism" have been applied by the freight industry for many
years to provide the shipper with the most efficient movement of goods for the best
value. The same concepts that work for freight have broad applications to all types of
transportation.

In its simplest terms, "intermodalism" covers all of the issues and activities, which
may affect or involve more than one mode of transportation. It has several aspects:

Connections: the convenient, rapid, efficient, and safe transfer of people or goods
from one mode to another (including end-point pick-up and delivery) during a single
journey to provide the highest quality and most comprehensive transportation service
for its cost.

Choices: the provision of transportation options through the fair and healthy
competition for transportation business between different modes, independently or in
combination.

Coordination and Cooperation: collaboration among transportation organizations

for the purpose of improving transportation services, quality, safety, and economy for
all modes or combinations of modes in an environmentally sound manner.

This shows that multimodalism/intermodalism is not limited to freight transport. It is

the opposite of unimodalism.

Going unimodal is a comfortable way of thinking, but is either impractical (like

inland water transport (IWT) in deserts), expensive (like overland trucking) or not
environmentally friendly (like single car occupancy in cities).

4
http://www.dot.gov/intermodal/about_us.html

-3-
 Multimodal transport implies also related items, such as carefully arranged
connections, in sites preferably tri- or quadri-modal, and a layout of connecting sites which
encourages multimodality. It thus relates to ports, freight villages, hubs, interfaces, etc.
Without such interfaces, a transport cannot be multimodal.

B. History
The “multimodal transport” concept
Figure I.1
is not new. In the seventeenth century, a
famed French writer described how his
horse-drawn carriage boarded a barge and
went down the Rhone River for 400 km, to
avoid the bumpy ride on the
underdeveloped road network of the times.
This was a precursor of roll-on/roll-off (Ro-
Ro). Modern multimodal transport,
however, was born with railways. On the By courtesy of CNC

very first railways in 1830 (figure I.1), horse-drawn carriages were detached from their
wheels and loaded onto flat wagons or attached to bogies, to save travelers the trouble of
changing from carts to wagons. It might have been a way to win acceptance for this new
mode of transport in order to show how similar it was to the accepted means of passenger
transport. This system, however, disappeared quickly because of fierce opposition by some
cities.

As far as cargo transport is concerned, container Figure I.2

transport or unitization started on railways even before
the First World War. In France, these “cadres” were
some 2 x 2 x 2 m. strong wooden boxes (figure I.2),
reusable, and carrying goods, mainly removals, from
door to door. Some can be seen in the French Transport
By courtesy of CNC
Museum.

An early road-rail-sea trimodal combined transport service between Paris and

London operated through Calais and Dover just before the First World War. In 1933, these

-4-
international ventures led to the establishment of the International Container Bureau5 by ICC,
both bodies being located in Paris, in order to sensitize the business community to the
development of international and thus intermodal transport and its practical aspects.

A specific French domestic

Figure I. 3
company, CNC, was established in
1948, with a fleet of steel “cadres” and
a through bill of lading, exporting
to all French-connected countries
(figure I.3).

The real multimodal revolution,

however, originated when a road
transport operator, Malcolm MacLean,
wanted to overcome the hurdles of the By courtesy of CNC

varying legislation concerning trucks in the fifty states of the United States. The interstate
trucks needed as many license plates as states they crossed, and the authorized dimensions
and specifications varied. Using a system of tractor-trailers helped to cross state borders
without handling the goods, but not everywhere. At the beginning of the 1950s, some road
operators put their trailers piggyback on railway flat cars to avoid these barriers.6 Malcolm
MacLean, reminded of his frustration in the 1930s at the time lost by his trucks during port
operations, gave this some thought. Putting them on a ship without unloading would save
time, and sailing along the coast could avoid the barriers. However, he soon found that the
wheels and undercarriage of the trailers were an unnecessary burden on board. He devised a
chassis on which to bolt a container7 equivalent to a trailer of the maximum size then allowed
on American roads (35’ x 8’ x 8’), and started the first real multimodal, domestic transport
from New Jersey to Texas on 26 April 1956, on board deck of a transformed tanker. As a
final touch to his invention, his next ships had on-board container gantries as well as cells in
the holds, where the containers could be stacked one on top of the other and could nest safely
in bad weather.

5
In 1948, the International Container Bureau was renamed the International Container and Intermodal
Transport Bureau.
6
Some states, imposing a lower overall gross weight for the trucks, were called “barrier states”.
7
The first container on record, according to the UNCTAD Report on Unitization of Cargo, 1970, dates back
to 1906. It was a 18’ x 8’ x 8’ steel box, but it was not stackable.

-5-
 Others seized upon the idea. The first Pacific crossing, though still domestic, took
place in 1958, from San Francisco to Hawaii, the year when the authorized trailer length was
increased to 40 feet. The first international multimodal move was initiated in 1960, between
the United States and Venezuela. However, the agreed date of the full-scale revolution is
April 1966, with the arrival in Rotterdam of the first full cellular containership from across
the Atlantic, bringing Europe closer to the United States by weeks.

By providing such secure long-distance transportation chains, containerization aided

by facilitation created what is known today as multimodal transport.

C. Multimodal mode ?
Multimodal transport has since evolved as a transport mode of its own, trying to
carve its own laws, modelled around the container and its seamless transport. Some even
speak of multimodalism, and UNCTAD fully supported this move in the United Nations
Convention on International Multimodal Transport of Goods and UNCTAD/ICC Rules for
Multimodal Transport.

As mentioned earlier, however, transport can be multimodal simply by carefully

planning transport through a succession of at least two modes, for example carrying bulk
goods.

This is one area where IWT can fit in, especially in Asia, where bulk transport will
always have a role. IWT can easily fit into the multimodal transport system, and this is
especially true for Asia, where bulk transport has a strong presence. For instance, in China, it
has been a regular policy to organize coordinated shipments of coal by rail, north-south, and
then by river, west-east, towards the consuming centres of the lower Yangtze, or for export.
Two important reasons are the tremendous capacity reserve of river transport and railway
capacity constraints. This is also a very environmentally friendly solution.

-6-