Multimodal transportation. Features & Benefits

Multimodal transportation is one of the options for cargo delivery by means of a mixed cargo, which can be carried out both inside the country and outside it. In other words, products are delivered alternately in several types of transport: aviation, automobile, river, railway. However, their combination may be different.

Multimodal transportation implies the mandatory registration of an agreement on the mixed transport of goods. The operator responsible for the organization of such a service fully controls all of its stages, from loading the goods in one country and ending with its unloading into another.

Multimodal transport must necessarily meet the safety requirements, which is also provided by the operator. He carefully monitors the safety of the cargo, because if it is damaged or lost, it will be obliged to pay all damages. Among other things, the operator should be able to prepare a process of quality delivery of absolutely any cargo, including dangerous goods.

Safety measures for multimodal transport are undertaken in advance. Also it is necessary to prepare in advance the packaging, the route and the vehicle itself. These activities are conducted in accordance with established rules.

The agreement on the mixed transportation of goods is a document that imposes on the operator the obligation to organize and practically implement the process of transporting goods by several modes of transport. Multimodal transportation assumes that the operator company that accepts the goods must deliver the transport document to the customer, which is both negotiable and non-negotiable.

An integral part of the effective functioning of the aforementioned type of cargo transportation is the developed information infrastructure, which makes it possible to fulfill obligations under a mixed contract. In other words, multimodal transportation includes the following components: management, control, planning of the delivery process, operational information on loading, transportation of the vehicle en route, unloading the goods.

At present, in the world practice, a variety of modern information exchange systems are increasingly used. Their implementation in multimodal international transportations is especially actual . At the same time, the field of application of electronic means of communication directly affects the degree of competitiveness between transport companies.

Multimodal container transportations are focused first of all on a combination of potential reserves of aviation, river, railway, automobile types of transport. With the help of them, goods are shipped all over the world as soon as possible. It should be emphasized that multimodal transportation is quite a demanded service on the international route between different continents, since, for example, it is not possible to deliver cargo from Australia to South America only by sea mode of transport.