The Development History of International Multimodal Transport

The development process of international multimodal transport can be traced back to the 1960s. The following is a detailed introduction to its development process:

1、 Initial stage (1960s)

Background: With the continuous popularization of containers in maritime transportation, the original transportation methods are beginning to move towards standardization.

Development: In order to improve their performance, some railway companies have gradually expanded their original scope of back-to-back transportation business, which is mainly based on the combination of road and railway transportation. Freight cars or containers are directly loaded onto train carriages for transportation, and then unloaded from the carriages upon arrival at the destination. By collaborating with truck transport companies, we have extended the inland transportation chain of containers and gradually developed railway container transport services.

Flag event: In August 1956, the Missouri Pacific Railroad began operating railway container transportation services between Kansas City and St. Louis, equipped with more standard railway flatbed trucks, marking the gradual development of railway container business.

2、 Development stage (late 1960s to 1970s)

Background: The trade demand between the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean is gradually increasing. In order to increase the market profit of enterprises, South Pacific Railway Company and Shipping Company have jointly developed a new container transportation service.

Development: Continental bridge transportation has gradually developed as an alternative to all waterway transportation via the Panama Canal, giving rise to two types of land bridge transportation systems: "small land bridges" and "micro land bridges", which together laid the foundation for container sea rail intermodal transportation.

European development: European railways have taken note of the development of container and multimodal transport in the United States. In 1966, based on the formation of the inland container railway freight network, sea rail multimodal transport services were also launched between the United Kingdom and Belgium, marking the gradual development of sea rail multimodal transport in the Americas and Europe.

Trade model transformation: In the 1970s, with the development of outward oriented economies in some countries in the Asia Pacific region, Europe's position in US import trade gradually declined. Large cities in the western coastal, central western, and eastern regions of the United States rapidly increased their demand for commodity trade in the Far East. At the same time, the production of containers is becoming more standardized, and the difficulty of enterprise transportation is decreasing. Continental bridge freight transportation and sea rail intermodal transportation, as an efficient mode of transportation, are gradually being more applied in the Americas and the Far East.

3、 Mature stage (since the 1990s)

Background: With the further development of economic internationalization and globalization, the international division of labor and productivity layout of industrial manufacturing in developed countries are gradually adjusted, the scope of raw material sources and commodity sales is constantly expanding, and the world trade pattern is further changing.

Development: The demand for freight transportation between Asia and Europe, as well as between Asia and the United States, continues to grow rapidly, and the transportation chain is further extended. International container transportation continues to develop rapidly and further promotes the current multimodal transport process in Asian countries and regions.

Policy promotion: With the consensus reached by EU member states on eliminating trade barriers and building a common market, and the entry into force of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the trend of regional economic integration is gradually strengthening. In order to better meet the rapid growth of global freight transportation, logistics companies have gradually built a complete logistics network. The biggest constraint in the multimodal transportation process - the difficulty of connecting different transportation modes - has been alleviated, thus ensuring the efficiency of multimodal transportation. Thus, multimodal transportation has become an important mode of transportation.

4、 New Stage (Since the 21st Century)

Development: Developed countries in Europe and America have vigorously developed multimodal transport since the 1980s through various policy measures, especially since entering the 21st century, where multimodal transport has been regarded as the leading strategy for optimizing transportation systems. Currently, a multimodal transport promotion system has been formed with diverse forms of development, advanced facilities and equipment, perfect standard systems, smooth transportation organization, and strong policy guarantees. The proportion of multimodal transport continues to grow and its development momentum is strong.

China's development: With the promotion of the "the Belt and Road" and the support of various local governments, China has realized special trains from different cities to China Europe, China Mongolia and other countries, greatly promoting the development of multimodal transport. The development of China Europe regular trains, that is, the development of China Europe regular trains vigorously promoted by the national strategy of the "the Belt and Road", has achieved 3500 China Europe regular trains nationwide since 2017, and the number has continued to grow since then.

In summary, the development of international multimodal transport has gone through a process of initial emergence, development, maturity, and new stages. With the continuous development of global economic integration and international trade, international multimodal transport will continue to play an important role and usher in new development opportunities.