Intermodal transport involves the transport of goods in containers or intermodal vehicles, using some modes of transportation (eg, trains, boats and trucks), without handling the goods themselves when changing modes. This method reduces cargo handling, and thereby improves security, reduces damage and loss, and enables the delivery of goods to be transported faster. Reducing the cost of road trucking is a major benefit for intercontinental use. This can be offset by reduced time for road transport in shorter distances.
Video Intermodal freight transport
Origins
Intermodal transport returned to the 18th century and preceded the railroad. Some of the earliest containers were used for coal shipments in the Bridgewater Canal in England in the 1780s. Coal containers (called "loose boxes" or "tubs") are immediately deployed in early canals and trains and used for roads/trains (roads at that time mean horse-drawn vehicles).
Wooden coal containers used on railroads back to the 1830s at Liverpool and Manchester Railway. In 1841, Isambard Kingdom Brunel introduced an iron container to move coal from the Neath valley to Swansea Docks. At the outbreak of the First World War, the Great East Railway used wooden containers to move passenger luggage between trains and shipping through Harwich harbor.
The early 1900s saw the first adoption of sealed containers, especially for furniture movement and intermodal delivery between road and rail. The lack of standards limits the value of these services and this in turn encourages standardization. In the US, the containers, known as "van lifts", are used as early as 1911.
Maps Intermodal freight transport
Intermodal container
Initial container
In the UK the containers were first standardized by the Railway Clearing House (RCH) in the 1920s, allowing both owned and privately owned trains to be carried over standard containers. According to modern standards, these containers are small, 1.5 or 3.0 meters in length (4.9 or 9.8 feet), usually wood and with curved roofs and insufficient strength to accumulate. From 1928, London, Midland, and Scottish Railway offer intermodal rail service "door to door" using this container. This standard failed to become popular outside the UK.
Palettes performed their first major appearance during World War II, when the United States military collected goods on a pallet, allowing rapid transfers between warehouses, trucks, trains, ships, and aircraft. Because there is no required shipping handling, fewer personnel are required and loading times are reduced.
Truck trailers were first brought by trains before World War II, an arrangement often called "piggyback", by a small Class I train, Chicago Great Western in 1936. Canada's Pacific Railway is a pioneer in transportation support, becoming the first in North American railway to introduce service in 1952. In the United Kingdom, four major railway companies offer services using standard RCH containers that can be flown and removed on the back of the truck. Moving companies like Pickfords offer personal service in the same way.
Containerization
In 1933 in Europe under the auspices of the International Chamber of Commerce established the International Container Bureau (France: Bureau of International des Conteneurs, BIC). In June 1933, the Bureau International des Containers et du Transport Intermodal (B.I.C.) decided on the mandatory parameters for containers used in international traffic. Containers are handled with lifting equipment, such as cranes, top conveyors, etc. For elevator travel (group I container), built after 1 July 1933. Mandatory Regulations:
- Clause 1.-- The container is, in the case of the form, either of a closed or open type, and, with respect to capacity, whether of the type of weight or light.
- Clause 2.-- The loading capacity of the container should be such that its total weight (load, plus tare) is: 5 metric tons for heavy type containers; 2.5 metric tons for light type containers; a 5 percent excess tolerance in total weight is allowed under the same conditions as for cart loads.
In April 1935 the BIC set the second standard for European containers:
In the 1950s, a new standard Intermodal steel container based on the specifications of the US Department of Defense began to revolutionize the transportation of goods. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) then issued standards based on the US Department of Defense standards between 1968 and 1970.
The White Line and the Yukon Railway acquired the world's first container vessel, Clifford J. Rogers, built in 1955, and introduced the container to the train in 1956. In Britain, the modernization plan and in turn the Beeching Report greatly encourages the accumulation. The UK Railways freight service is launched with an 8-foot (2.4 m) pre-ISO container. Older wooden containers and pre-ISO containers are quickly replaced with standard ISO 10-and-20-foot containers (3.0 and 6.1 m), and then by 40-foot (12 m) and larger containers.
In the US, starting in the 1960s, the use of containers increased steadily. Train traffic between triples between 1980 and 2002, according to the American Railroad Association (AAR), from 3.1 million trailers and containers up to 9.3 million. Large investments made in the intermodal delivery project. An example is the Port of Oakland intermodal train facility valued at $ US $ 740 million starting in the late 1980s.
Since 1984, the mechanism of intermodal delivery known as dual rail transport has become increasingly common. Rising to a level of nearly 70% of US intermodal shipments, it transports over one million containers per year. The double bundle rail design significantly reduces the damage on the way and provides greater cargo security by holding lower containers so that their doors can not be opened. A large and new domestic container size succession was introduced to improve shipping productivity. In Europe, more restricted loading meters have limited the adoption of double-stack cars. However, in 2007 Betuweroute was completed, a train from Rotterdam to the heart of the German industry, which could accommodate containers piled double in the future. Other countries, such as New Zealand, have many tunnels and low bridges that limit expansion due to economic reasons.
Because electrification generally precedes multiple buildup, the overhead cable is too low to accommodate it. However, India is building some just-transport corridors with overhead cables at 7.45 m above the tracks, which are quite high.
Container container and handling
Containers, also known as intermodal containers or ISO containers because the dimensions have been determined by ISO, are the main types of equipment used in intermodal transport, especially when one mode of transportation is by ship. The container has a width of 8-feet (2.4 m) with an 8-or-9-foot height (2.438400 or 2.743200 m). Since its introduction, there have been moves to adopt other heights, such as 10-foot-6-inches (3.20 m). The most common lengths are 20 feet (6.1 m), 40 feet (12 m), 45 feet (14 m), 48 and 53 feet (15 and 16 m), although there are other lengths. Three common measures are:
- one TEU - 20-by-8-feet (6.1 mò - 2.4 m) x 8-foot-6-inches (2.59 m)
- two TEU - 40-by-8-feet (12.2 mÃ, à ± 2.4 m) x 8-foot-6-inches (2.59 m)
- highcube-40-by-8-feet (-12.2 mÃ, à ± 2.4 m) x 9-foot-6-inches (2.90 m).
In countries where the gauge loads enough trains, truck trailers are often carried by trains. Variations exist, including open-topped versions that are covered by fabric blinds used to transport larger loads. A container called tanktainer , with a tank inside a standard container frame, carries fluid. Refrigerated containers (reefer) are used for perishables. The Swap body unit has the same bottom corner as an intermodal container but is not strong enough to stack. They have folding legs under their frames and can be moved between trucks without using a crane.
Handling equipment can be designed with the thought of intermodality, helping to move containers between rail, road and sea. These can include:
- container gantry crane to move containers from ships to trucks or train cars. A moving spreader in several directions allows accurate positioning of the cargo. A container crane is mounted on a rail that moves parallel to the ship's side, with a large explosion spanning the distance between the cargo load of the ship and the pier.
- Straddle carriers, and larger rubber gantry cranes can straddle stacks of containers as well as rail and road vehicles, allowing for quick container transfers.
- Grappler lift, which is very similar to a straddle carrier unless it holds the bottom of the container rather than above.
- The stacker reaches the lifting arms and spreader beams to lift the containers to trucks or trains and can pile containers on top of each other.
- Sidelifters are highway or semi-trailer trucks with cranes mounted at each end to hoist and transport containers in small yards or longer distances.
- Bigger forklift trucks are often used to load containers to/from trucks and trains.
- Optical trucks with special chain assemblies such as QuickLoadz can pull containers up or out of bed using corner castings.
Load Charging in Intermodal Container
According to the European Commission's Transport Ministry "it has been estimated that up to 25% of accidents involving trucks can be caused by inadequate cargo safeguards". Cargo that is not secured properly may cause severe accidents and result in loss of cargo, loss of life, loss of vehicles, ships and aircraft; not to mention the environmental hazards that can be caused. There are many different ways and different materials available to stabilize and secure the load in containers used in various modes of transport. Methods and materials Conventional Load Charging such as reinforcing steel and wood blocking & amp; bracing has been around for decades and is still widely used. In recent years the use of several relatively new and unknown load Taking methods has been available through innovation and technological advancements including polyester and cutting bundles, synthetic webbings and Dunnage Bags, also known as air bags.
Transport mode
Container ship
Container vessels are used to transport containers by sea. These ships are custom-made to accommodate containers. Some ships can accommodate thousands of containers. Their capacity is often measured in TEU or FEU. The initials stand for "equivalent twenty-foot units," and "forty-foot units", respectively. For example, a vessel that can hold 1,000 40-foot containers or 2,000 20-foot containers can be said to have a capacity of 2,000 TEUs. After 2006, the largest container vessel in regular operations is capable of carrying more than 15,000 TEUs.
Onboard their ships are usually stacked up to seven units high.
A major consideration in the size of container ships is that larger vessels exceed the capacity of important marine routes such as Panama and the Suez canal. The largest container ship size that can cross the Panama canal is called Panamax, which is currently around 5,000 TEUs. The third set of keys is planned as part of the Canal Panama expansion project to accommodate up to 12,000 TEU container ships in the future, comparable to the current Suezmax.
Very large container ships also require special deep water terminals and handling facilities. Available container fleets, route constraints, and terminal capacity play a large role in shaping the logistics of global container shipments.
Train
In North America, containers are often shipped by train in good car containers. These cars resemble fat cars but newer ones have container-sized depressions, or well, in the middle (between bogies or "trucks") of cars. This depression allows sufficient permission to allow two containers to be loaded in the car in a "double order" arrangement. Newer container cars are also specially built as articulated small "units", most commonly in three or five components, in which two components are connected by a single bogie compared with two bogies, one on each car. Double buildup is also used in some parts of Australia. In some older railways, especially in the UK, the use of a good car is necessary to carry large containers piled in a loading meter.
It is also common in North America to transport semi-trailers in train carriages or spine cars, a setting called "piggyback" or TOFC (trailer in flat car) to distinguish it from a container on flat car (COFC). Some flatcars are designed with a foldable trailer trailer that can be used for trailer or container services. Such designs allow the trailer to be rolled from one end, though the lifter trailers on and outside the carriages by special loaders are more common. TOFC terminals usually have large areas for storing trailers while waiting for loading or pick-up.
If a rail line is built with sufficient vertical distance then double-stacked rail transport can be used. Where a powered line with an overhead power cord arrangement is usually not possible. The mandatory requirement to fit under the top wire for a traction power supply machine sets a height limit for the hopper to allow for trailer transport. This requires a certain low-rise building that causes small wheels for the carriage. Therefore an increase in bogey degradation by the worn wheel is a cost loss for the system.
When carried by train, the container can be loaded on a flat train or in a good container car. In Europe, tight rail height restrictions (smaller loading and structural gauges) and above electrification prevent containers from being stacked two high, and containers transported high either in standard carriages or other railway carriages. Higher containers are often carried in good cars (not stacked) on older European rail routes where loading gauges (especially with reduced gauges for UK lines) are very small.
The narrow gauge gauge measuring 610 mm ( 2 ft ) has a smaller cart that does not easily carry ISO containers, nor does it have a length of 30 feet (9.14 m) and 7-foot (2.13 m) wide of 762 mm ( 2Ã, ftÃ, 6Ã, in ) measure Kalka-Shimla Railway. The narrower railway is wider than for example 914 mm and 1.000Ã, mm ( 3Ã, ftÃ, 3 3 / 8 at ) the meter can take the ISO container, as long as the loading meter allows it.
Truck
Trucks are often used to connect the "sea line" and rail segments of the global intermodal goods movement. Special trucks that run between seaports, railway terminals and inland delivery docks, often called drayages, and are usually provided by special drayage companies or by railroad tracks.
Barge
Barges utilizing ro-ro techniques and container buildup transport goods on major land routes such as the Rhine/Danube in Europe and the Mississippi River in the US.
Land Bridge
The terms landbridge or land bridge are commonly used in the intermodal goods transport sector which refers to the delivery of container sea freight that runs across large portions of land for an important part of the journey, the ultimate goal; From which part of the land of travel is referred to as "land bridge" and the mode of transportation used is rail transport. There are three applications for the term.
- Land Bridge - The intermodal container shipped by ship from country A to country B, land bridge across the entire continent/country/continent, is on the way. For example, shipping containers from China to Germany, loaded onto ships in China, unloaded in the port of Los Angeles (California) and traveled through rail transport to the ports of New York/New Jersey, and cargo on board for Hamburg. See also Eurasian Land Bridge.
- Mini Land bridge - Intermodal container shipped by ship from country A to country B, passes most of the land in one of country A or B. For example, shipping containers from China to New York ( New York), loaded onto a ship in China, unloaded in the port of Los Angeles (California) and traveled through rail transport to New York (New York), the final destination.
- Micro-Soil Bridge - An intermodal container shipped by ship from country A to country B, passes most of the land to reach the inland outback destination. For example, container shipments from China to Denver (Colorado), loaded onto ships in China, unloaded in the port of Los Angeles (California) and traveled through rail transport to Denver (Colorado), the final destination.
The term reverse land bridge refers to the micro-bridge of the east coast port (as opposed to the west coast port in the previous example) to the inland destination.
Planes
Generally modern, larger aircraft usually carry a load in containers. Sometimes even checked baggage is placed first into the container, and then loaded onto the plane. Of course because the requirements for weight are as low as possible (and very important, small differences in proper mass point), and low space, specially designed containers made of lightweight materials are often used. Due to price and size, this is rarely seen on the street or at the harbor. However, large transport planes allow for loading of standard container (s), or using standard sized containers made of lighter materials such as titanium or aluminum.
Largest Shipping Shipper Company by TEU Capacity
Gallery
See also
References
Bibliography
External links
- IANA: Intermodal Association of North America
- EIA: European Intermodal Association at the Library of Congress Web Archive (archived 2012-12-24)
- World Transport Organization World transport organization (Nonprofit Advisory Organization)
Source of the article : Wikipedia