Four Trends in Intermodal Transportation You Should Know About

By AmstanOH on 4 October 18 Blog

Intermodal transportation is becoming an increasingly common solution for businesses looking for new freight transportation services.  When done properly, intermodal shipments can avoid many of the problems currently surrounding the trucking industry, while giving businesses a variety of options in how to get their goods from A to B.

This increased interest in multi-mode shipping is creating a number of new trends, ones which may affect your own decision to make use of intermodal transportation.  These are the trends you should be keeping an eye on.

Four Critical Trends in Intermodal Freight Transportation Services

  1. Increased digital transport tracking

Traditionally, one of the big challenges in intermodal transport has been the issue of oversight.  Very often, the various modes of transport used incompatible computer systems that made day-to-day tracking difficult or impossible.  Now, standardized systems are being increasingly utilized that allow for intermodal oversight that’s as streamlined as standard ground-based options.

  1. More interest in eco-friendly shipping

Whether it’s a genuine interest in protecting the planet, or a simple pragmatic desire to avoid paying fuel costs, either way, businesses are looking for more eco-friendly solutions for shipping.  Intermodal transportation providers are aware of this, and increasingly pushing for modes – such as rail and waterways – that minimize fuel usage.

  1. More support from FMCGs

Fast Moving Consumer Goods have traditionally stuck to truck-based transportation, due to the frequently perishable nature of the products.  However, as companies in the FMCG sector have felt the pinch from truck shortages, they’ve been turning to intermodal solutions.  In turn, this is pushing the intermodal industry to adopt technology and procedures appropriate for FMCGs – and making intermodal transportation more attractive to a wider variety of businesses.

  1. Increased use of brokerage services and 3PLs 

Those being hit most hard by the trucking shortage are companies that rely on small shipments and Less-Than-Load buys.  These are also the companies who can benefit most from a move to intermodal transportation – if they have the right resources to make use of it.  So, they turn to third-party logistics (3PL) services instead.  3PLs can streamline the process of setting up intermodal freight transportation services, while also providing increased transparency into the process from end to end.

To learn more about how your company can benefit from partnering with a 3PL for intermodal shipments, just contact Amstan for all the details.  You will get the same great service as American Standard has for decades.

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