01. The Intro: What is that truck carrying?
It’s an occurrence, sometimes a daily one, that we’ve all likely experienced. Minding your own business in your car, truck, Hummer, or perhaps your Tesla — you see a semi-truck loaded down with a moderately beaten up corrugated metal container rather than a standard smooth-sided, often eye-catching, semi trailer. This metal container, let’s call it burnt orange, is emblazoned with a company name you outright skip trying to pronounce and is accompanied by the word “intermodal”. There’s that word. Intermodal. We see it almost daily without giving it a second thought, but what does it mean? Put your worries aside. We’re here to help.
02. The Facts: Welcome to Intermodal 101.
An adjective pronounced in-ter-mode-uhl, this somewhat mysterious word finds its roots circa 1960 according to dictionary.com. It is a combination of “inter” meaning between or among and “modal” meaning of or relating to mode, manner, or form. A little bit of word smithing and we’ve created the word intermodal which means switching between different modes. In our case, we are referring specifically to shipping and freight. Bearing this in mind, we can infer that the word then simply means “using various different modes of transportation”.
03. The Example: Real world freight.
It’s all starting to make sense now! Truck drivers haul a metal container that was shipped amongst mountains of its peers on a hulking beast of a cargo ship — likely from overseas — and was then picked and dropped on the bed of the waiting truck.
And there we have it folks: intermodal. We went from land, to ship, to truck, and will likely end up hitching a ride on a locomotive or airplane somewhere down the line. In a nutshell, many modes of transport all working together to move a single container across the globe = intermodal transportation.
04. The Benefits: Saving big bucks.
Intermodal transportation allows for increased efficiency when shipping freight long distances because of the container being well-suited for transport by any means time after time. The trucking undergone between the railway and the sea port is a unique type called “drayage“. It is most often provided by companies who specialize in this type of driving only.
Just a few benefits of intermodal include: lower costs, predictable pricing, and the flexibility of reduced cargo handling. This hands-off approach improves security, reduces damage, and allows freight to be transported faster. Generally priced lower than over-road trucking, intermodal is ideal for inter-continental use.
05. The Outro: Bringing it all together.
Fun fact: intermodal transportation helped aid the growth of global trade by drastically reducing the cost of transportation between sources of cheap production and locations where demand existed for those goods produced. It was a win-win kind of situation and remains so today. So, the next time you see a train or truck carrying an industrial metal container, just picture the plethora of journeys that simple box has completed. Remember: it made them via intermodal transport.
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