Get to know multimodal cargo transportation!
Imagine the situation: you are in city A and you need to ship some products to city C and, in order to that happen, it is clear the need to go through city B. Well, being aware of the way to go, we know that the products will transit through a highway that will take you from city A to the airport in city B, a plane departing from city B to city C and another vehicle that is already in the destination city will transport them to the final recipient.
Did you notice how it will take more than one transport for your product to reach its destination? This is what Multimodal Transport does. It organizes and facilitates the logistics process, so you don’t have to worry about the details.
Are you interested? Learn more:
Modal types
Before understanding how multimodal transport works, it is necessary to know that modals are different ways of transporting something from one place to another. According to the National Agency for Land Transport (Agência Nacional de Transportes Terrestres – ANTT), there are 5 modal types:
- Road Modal: Carried out on highways using trucks, vans, cars and motorcycles;
- Railway Modal: From railways, on trains;
- Air Modal: By aircraft such as airplanes;
- Waterway Modal: Seas, rivers and lagoons. By boats and ships;
- Duct Modal: Through ducts. In this case, gases and liquids are transported.
But after all, what is Multimodal Transport?
Multimodal transport is carried out through a single contract issued by the Multimodal Transport Operator (MTO), a legal entity that is responsible for the entire operation from the pickup of the product to the delivery at its destination.
Even though it operates from a single contract, two or more modes of transport are used to define the delivery to its final destination since its origin, increasing the speed and efficiency of transport, hence the multimodal name = two or more modes of transport.
Conventional Transport x Multimodal Transport
Generally, if you need to make a shipment to a distant location that depends on more than one means of transportation, your company will need several carriers to perform the service. Therefore, several contracts will be necessary for the product to reach its final consumer. This means more work for the company and a slower logistical process, since there are many people involved.
Already using multimodal transport through a single contract, the company manages to get rid of the logistical bureaucracy with better cost and more efficiency.
Benefits
In addition to being modern, multimodal transport if well planned can be beneficial and efficient for all parties involved. It helps in synchronizing deliveries with the industry’s assembly line and is advantageous in terms of time and cost for contractors.
We still have the following benefits:
- The company will have no concerns about the management of transport logistics, since MTO is responsible for this;
- The freight cost will be reduced;
- Saving time for contractors. Here, the company’s involvement with bureaucratic issues will not be necessary;
- Economy, since multimodal transport is more affordable than conventional transport;
- The contractor is not concerned with what happens to the object during its route, it is the responsibility of MTO to deal with cases of loss, robbery or any type of damage.
It is practical, efficient and safe. What do you think about using multimodal transport in your company?