Intermodal Transport

One of the most prominent targets of the EU Transport Whitepaper is the ambition to shift 30 % of road freight transported more than 300 kilometres to other modes such as rail or waterborne transport by 2030.

To meet this goal the EU has recognized that this will require the development  of appropriate new infrastructure, the upgrading of existing infrastructure and the development of  multimodal terminals.

Chemicals companies and intermodal transport

Chemical companies have to a large extent already captured current intermodal transport opportunities, finding it difficult to further increase modal shift without jeopardizing service levels, being either constrained by lack of capacities, lack of sufficiently developed routes, lack of reliability, lack of services at competitive rates or a combination thereof. In order to support the EU’s ambitious plan and enable even greater use of intermodal transport options, Cefic established  an Issue Team “Intermodal Transport Network Development” supported by SGKV (Studiengesellschaft fuer den Kombinierten Verkehr e.V., Germany) with the following objectives:

• To provide a macro-economic assessment of the chemical industry’s intermodal transport needs on key strategic corridors in the current situation and on a time horizon up to 2020;
• To highlight current and expected capacity bottlenecks and needs for investment in intermodal transport infrastructure (tracks and terminals) and ICT; and
• To highlight the chemical industry’s intentions to further increase the share of intermodal transport in its macro-economic transport mode mix, provided that sufficient capacity, availability and reliability of intermodal services at a competitive cost is available.

The Intermodal Transport Report

The Cefic report on Intermodal Transport Network Development identifies the obstacles and options for further increasing the intermodal share of chemical transports, in the context of  the EU  goal to shift 30% of road  transport to intermodal transport.

The report contains the results of a survey undertaken to identify the main chemical  intermodal  transport corridors and volumes, as well as the bottlenecks and barriers. 

Recommendations are presented of measures that should be taken by the different stakeholders to allow a further increase the share of intermodal transport.

Download the report " Intermodal Transport Network Development"

Downlaod the Cefic position on Intermodal Transport (June 2014)