Multimodal transportation is one of the options for the delivery of goods through mixed cargo, which can be carried out both domestically and abroad. In other words, the products are supplied alternately by several modes of transport: air, road, river, rail. Moreover, their combination may be different.
Multimodal transportation involves the mandatory execution of an agreement on multimodal transportation of goods. The operator responsible for organizing such a service fully controls all its stages, from the loading of goods in one country to its unloading in another.
Multimodal transportation must 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, he will be obliged to compensate for all losses. Among other things, the operator must be able to prepare the process of high-quality delivery of absolutely any cargo, including dangerous cargo.
Safety measures for multimodal transport are undertaken in advance. You should also prepare containers in advance, the route and the vehicle itself. These events are held in accordance with established rules.
The agreement on the mixed transportation of goods is a document that makes it incumbent on the operator to organize and practically implement the process of transporting goods by several modes of transport. Multimodal transportation assumes that the operator company, which accepts the goods, is obliged to transfer the transport document to the customer, which can be either negotiable or non-negotiable.
An integral component of the effective functioning of the above type of cargo transportation is a 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 about loading, moving a vehicle along the route, unloading goods.
Currently, in world practice, a variety of modern systems for the exchange of information are increasingly used. Their implementation in multimodal international transport is especially relevant . At the same time, the scope of electronic communications directly affects the degree of competitiveness between transport companies.
Multimodal container transportation is primarily focused on combining the potential reserves of aviation, river, rail, road modes of transport. With their help, goods are delivered around the world as soon as possible. It should be emphasized that multimodal transportation is a rather 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.