Intermodal

Containerization was probably the greatest transportation innovation of the 20th century and gave rise to intermodal. Intermodal refers to the ability to seamlessly transfer shipments from one mode of transportation to another. Containers are simply lifted off a truck chassis by crane and placed on a rail chassis or lifted off a truck or rail platform and loaded on an oceangoing vessel. Truck-to-rail, truck-to-ship, and rail-to-ship transfers are all examples of intermodal transportation. As a practical matter, most intermodal offerings refer to truck and rail combinations, and can include trailers on rail cars as well as containers.

The ability to transfer cargo from one mode of transportation to another without reloading saves time and reduces costs, thereby streamlining the supply chain.