LOGISTICS AND INTERMODAL TRANSPORT

- JASON MONIOS -

- RICKARD BERGQVIST -

- FIRST EDITION –

- COPYRIGHT - By Dr. Luis ALFARO, YEAR 2024

LOGISTICS AND INTERMODAL TRANSPORT

PART II:
OPERATIONS

SECTION II:

CHAPTER 2:
INTERMODAL TRANSPORT EQUIPMENT
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Dr. Luis Alfaro

Director of Ports, Logistics and SCM
DUY TAN UNIVERSITY
The SouthStar Management Institute (SMi)
254 Nguyen Van Linh St., Danang, Vietnam
T: (+84) 236.365.0403 (Ext. 606) - (+84) 236.382.7111
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Chapter Outline 01 INTRODUCTION

02 LOADING UNITS

03 HANDLING EQUIPMENT

04 TRAINS

05 CONTAINER VESSELS

06 CONCLUSION
 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
EMPTY CONTAINER REPOSITIONING

In an ideal scenario, a loaded container would travel from origin to

destination, where it would be stripped and then reloaded for

export to a new destination.

In practice, there is not always an export load waiting; therefore,

once a container has been emptied, the empty box will be taken

back to the nearest port or nominated depot.

 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
EMPTY CONTAINER REPOSITIONING

It may then wait there for a period of time until a local exporter

requires it, or it may be sent back or ‘repositioned’ to the Far East,

where most exporting is done. Around 30% of all recorded

container handlings in world ports are empty containers. Western

countries generally are net importers, meaning there are not

enough export loads to fill all the containers that arrive with

imported goods.
 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
EMPTY CONTAINER REPOSITIONING

If the container must sit idle for more than 1–2 weeks then the loss

of revenue becomes an issue, and the container owner would

rather send the container to China where a load will definitely be

found.
 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
PROBLEM OF THE EMPTY CONTAINER
REPOSITIONING?

The problem arising from this system is that containers cost

money to move, so the more empty or unproductive moves that

take place, the higher the cost. Initially, this cost is borne by the

shipping line, but, particularly in difficult economic periods, this

cost is often passed on to the shipper.

 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
PROBLEM OF THE EMPTY CONTAINER
REPOSITIONING?
It has been estimated that there exist about three containers for every

container slot in the world fleet, to account for overland movements as well

as taking up the slack in the system (Rodrigue, 2013).

Most of these are controlled by shipping lines, either through ownership or

by leasing them from container leasing companies, which provide

flexibility for shipping lines that do not want to take the risk of purchasing

too many containers.

 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
PROBLEM OF THE EMPTY CONTAINER
REPOSITIONING?

Shipping lines own approximately 62% of containers, and the

remaining 38% is owned by leasing companies (Theofanis and

Boile, 2009). The problem with this system is that each container is

owned (or at least controlled) by a separate shipping line.

 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
PROBLEM OF THE EMPTY CONTAINER
REPOSITIONING?

There have been some attempts in the industry to solve this

problem through the use of box pools (so-called grey boxes

because containers are normally clearly branded for each shipping

line), but the problem has not yet been resolved.

 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
SWAP BODIES

Swap bodies can be moved between road and rail vehicles, but are

not strong enough to be stacked or to be used on sea transport.

They can be fully rigid or curtain sided for side loading. They often

have the same external dimensions as general-purpose containers,

but they possess four folding legs under the frame.

 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
CHARACTERISTICS OF SWAP BODIES?

As they do not have the same frame strength as containers, they cannot be

lifted from above by spreader cranes but must be lifted from special fittings

underneath.
 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
CHARACTERISTICS OF SWAP BODIES?

Swap bodies are less strong than ISO containers, but they have some

advantages as they are easier for truck drivers to connect to them as they do

not have to be loaded and unloaded from ground level. Their less rigid

construction also means that they have a lower tare weight.

02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
CHARACTERISTICS OF SWAP BODIES?

Figure 2.5​ Swap body being

loaded onto a rail wagon.
(From Green Cargo)
02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
CHARACTERISTICS OF SWAP BODIES?

Figure 2.5.1​ Swap body.

(From truck1, via Google Search)
 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
SEMI-TRAILERS AND CHASSIS

A semi-trailer connects to a road tractor unit but it is also

equipped with legs that can be lowered to support the trailer when

it is uncoupled. The entire unit is called an articulated lorry or

articulated truck, as opposed to a rigid vehicle that is not able to

pivot on the joint. Semi-trailers with two trailer units are called B-

doubles or road trains. Like swap bodies, semi-trailers can be rigid

or curtain sided or whatever formation is suitable for the cargo.

 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
SEMI-TRAILERS AND CHASSIS

Road vehicles can also be carried on rail wagons in their entirety

(as in the Channel Tunnel). This is referred to as ‘piggyback’, and

is less common than utilizing a container (see Lowe, 2005;

Woxenius and Bergqvist, 2011).

02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
SEMI-TRAILERS AND CHASSIS

Figure 2.6​ ‘Piggyback’ semi-trailer

being loaded on a rail wagon.
(From Green Cargo)
02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
SEMI-TRAILERS AND CHASSIS

Figure 2.6​.1 ‘Piggyback’ semi-tráiler.

(From rrpicturearchives, via Google Search)
 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
THE MEANING OF TRAILER?

The term trailer can also refer solely to the wheeled unit on which

a container or swap body rests rather than an integrated loading

unit. In the United States, the preferred term for a trailer is a

chassis. In Europe, grounded intermodal terminals are the norm,

whereby containers are transferred between trains and road

trailers or stacked on the ground in between.

 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
THE MEANING OF TRAILER?

In the United States, wheeled terminals are common, in which case

containers are unloaded from trains onto waiting chassis, and the

driver will arrive with only the tractor unit and hook up to a trailer

or chassis. In Europe, the driver manages his or her own tractor

unit and trailer and only the containers are interchanged.

 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
CONCLUSION OF SEMI-TRAILER (‘Piggyback’)

Using a semi-trailer increases flexibility compared with a

permanently coupled unit. Moreover, it can be combined with

different types of tractors specifically used for terminal operation

and transportation. It also has a better ratio between its own and

cargo weights.
 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
CONCLUSION OF TRAILER (‘Van Trailer’)

A trailer has wheels but no engine which means that it has to be

attached to a vehicle that has an engine to be functional. The right

trailer can be selected depending upon the type of load to be

carried.

The box trailer is the most common type of trailer, and it is also

called a van trailer.

 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
CONCLUSION OF TRAILER (‘Van Trailer’)

Figure 2.6​.2 Differentiation of Units.

(From own resources, via Google Search)
 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
CONCLUSION OF CURTAIN SIDER TRAILER

A curtain sider is similar to a box trailer, except that the sides are

movable curtains made of reinforced fabric covered with a

waterproof coating. The purpose of a curtain sider is to allow the

security and weather resistance of a box trailer with the loading

ease of a flatbed.

Usually, a curtain-sided intermodal container can be transported

by truck on a flat trailer or by rail on a flat wagon.

 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
CONCLUSION OF CURTAIN SIDER TRAILER

Figure 2.7​ Tractor unit connected to

curtain-sided intermodal container
on a flat trailer.
(From Rickard Bergqvist and Jason Monios)
 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
CONCLUSION OF CURTAIN SIDER TRAILER

Figure 2.7.1​ Curtain Sider Unit.

(From curtainsider, via Google Search)
 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
CONCLUSION OF REEFER TRAILER
(REFRIGERATOR TRUCK)

A reefer (or refrigerator truck) is a box trailer with a heating/cooling

unit used to transport commodities requiring temperature control,

such as cold chain products for supermarkets.

They can also be compartmentalized for chilled, frozen or ambient,

but current rail containers cannot, which limits their flexibility.

02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
CONCLUSION OF REEFER TRAILER
(REFRIGERATOR TRUCK)

Figure 2.7.2​ Refrigerator Truck Unit.

(From different resources, via Google Search)
 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
CONCLUSION OF A TANKER TRAILER

A tanker is used for hauling liquids, such as gasoline, milk and so on.

Figure 2.7.3​ Tanker Truck Unit.

(From different resources, via Google Search)
 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
CONCLUSION OF A DRY BULK TRAILER

A dry bulk trailer resembles a big tanker, but it is used for sugar, flour and

other dry-powder materials.

Figure 2.7.4​ Dry Bulk Trailer Unit.

(From different resources, via Google Search)
 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
CONCLUSION OF A DOUBLE-DECKERS TRAILER

Double-deckers are trailers with a second floor to enable them to carry more

palletized goods or retail cages.

Figure 2.8​Double-deck trailer.

(From Ray Forster on Flickr. ‘Double-deck trailer’ is
copyright (c) 2013 Ray Forster and made available under
a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic
License)
 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
CONCLUSION OF A DOUBLE-DECKERS TRAILER

Figure 2.8.1​ Double-Deckers Trailer Unit.

(From different resources, via Google Search)
02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
HINTERLAND TRANSPORT WITH CONTAINERS
AND
SEMI-TRAILERS

The context of intermodal transport, and particularly for hinterland

transport, of semi-trailers and containers is quite different. This

section aims to describe those differences based on a number of

characteristics, and it builds on the previous work of Woxenius

and Bergqvist (2008, 2009, 2011).

 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
HINTERLAND TRANSPORT WITH CONTAINERS
AND
SEMI-TRAILERS

The context is described on the basis of the long-distance

transport of containers and semi-trailers. The two segments of

container- and semi-trailer–based transport are structured

according to the main aspects of the logistics set-up, main

markets, organizational structure and technology.

 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
HINTERLAND TRANSPORT WITH CONTAINERS AND
SEMI-TRAILERS

In terms of markets, semi-trailers serve mostly intra-regional flows, while

the main transport market for maritime containers is the trans-ocean trade.

The division is, however, not precise since the design of the latter transport

system allows for co-production with intra-European container services,

and the roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) ships transporting semi-trailers can also take

containers on semi-trailer chassis.

 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
HINTERLAND TRANSPORT WITH CONTAINERS AND
SEMI-TRAILERS

Some RoRo services act as bridge substitutes with a clear sub-contractor

role, while all-road or all-rail often constitute alternatives for semi-trailers in

longer-range maritime services. Trans-ocean container services mainly

compete with air transport although very differently in terms of costs and

transport time, as analyzed by Woxenius (2006).

 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
HINTERLAND TRANSPORT WITH CONTAINERS AND
SEMI-TRAILERS

The development of trans-ocean container services has been driven by the

growth in international trade to and from the Far East (cf. Woxenius and

Bergqvist, 2011).

The business priority for the RoRo operators is mainly towards providing

customer convenience, while the container segment aims at achieving

economies of scale.
 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
HINTERLAND TRANSPORT WITH CONTAINERS AND
SEMI-TRAILERS

The operational activity attracting most attention is, consequently, port

operations for the semi-trailer segment and the maritime leg for the

container segment. The results are quick RoRo transshipment and frequent

departures versus lift-on/lift-off (LoLo) transshipments and hub-and-spoke

systems and well-planned capacity.

 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
HINTERLAND TRANSPORT WITH CONTAINERS AND
SEMI-TRAILERS

In other words, the focus of RoRo can be characterized as being on service,

while that of LoLo is on low transport costs (Woxenius and Bergqvist, 2011).
 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
HINTERLAND TRANSPORT WITH CONTAINERS AND
SEMI-TRAILERS

The general operating characteristics are that the container segment

operates through a hub-and-spoke system with a relatively small number of

hub ports combined with feeder services to regional ports, while the lower

dependence on economies of scale in the RoRo segment has led to

maintained service in a straight line with less focus on large gateway ports.
 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
THE MODAL COMPETITION

The modal competition has led to a sharper geographic concentration in the

container segment, implying larger hinterland depth for containers; that is,

they generally travel further inland from each port than the semi-trailers do.

The RoRo segment presents a wider range of possible time-schedule

changes in order to align the number of turnarounds between individual

routes.
 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
THE MODAL COMPETITION

Shippers would expect time precision in hours or even minutes for the semi-

trailer segment, while the container segment is less strict on time precision

(maybe days instead of hours).

 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
THE MODAL COMPETITION

The dwell time in ports for semi-trailers is often very short compared with

the container segment, where ports are often used to absorb the slack in the

transport planning chain or to manage capacity gaps between the container

ship and the vehicles used in land traffic modes.

The fact that semi-trailers are of higher value also contributes to the low

dwell time of empty units.

 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
THE MODAL COMPETITION

Container transport is typically organized by the shipping lines, their agents or

specialized sea forwarders. For them, it is common practice to think in transport

chains that split between modes, whereas the road haulers and the transport of

semi-trailers normally plan for the same vehicle throughout the transport chain.

The planning and operational barriers for using rail are accordingly higher for

semi-trailers.
 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
THE MODAL COMPETITION

The physical characteristics of the container and the semi-trailer evidently affect

the technology that surrounds them. At the same time, much of the transport

technology is multipurpose in the sense that it can manage both types of load

units.
 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
THE MODAL COMPETITION

In general, the employed rail technology, as well as the transshipment technology,

is more complicated and costly for semi-trailers than for containers. The height

and weight of the semi-trailer require the use of four-axle pocket wagons.

See table 2.4:

​Comparison between the container and semi-trailer shipping segments.

 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
THE MODAL COMPETITION

Source: Woxenius, J. and Bergqvist, R., Journal of Transport Geography. 19(4), 680–688, 2011.
 02 LOADING UNITS: CONTAINERS
THE MODAL COMPETITION

Source: Woxenius, J. and Bergqvist, R., Journal of Transport Geography. 19(4), 680–688, 2011.
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DR. LUIS ALFARO
DIRECTOR OF PORTS, LOGISTICS AND SCM
SOUTHSTAR MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE, DA NANG, VIETNAM
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