Intermodal Transportation Operational Constraints, Research Paper Example

Intermodal transportation is a necessary component of shipping and distribution processes in the United States. However, while the infrastructure of intermodal freight transportation has increased over the years, barriers still exist that infringe upon its efficacy. Ultimately, these issues can be potentially overcome with the enhanced understanding of three factors: (a) intermodalism, as it relates to customers; (b) changing customer needs; and (c) the most important existing infrastructure constraints. The transportation infrastructure in the United States for intermodal transportation systems is quite vulnerable since issues exist in security and safety as well as the capacity of infrastructure and social or environmental issues in port cities (Lee & Farahmand, 2013). It is necessary to improve upon intermodal freight transportation in the United States by improving its infrastructure and changing policy that will allow the industry to better address the needs of consumers. Therefore, the primary goal of this paper is to elucidate barriers that exist that prevent optimization of intermodal freight transportation and to provide solutions that will contribute to the advancement of policy and infrastructure.

Intermodal freight transportation is a broad term that is used to discuss a variety of shipping and transportation methods that are currently utilized in the United States. Therefore, the main infrastructure issues that are observed related to this system are difficult to tackle because there are many different systems within this category that must be considered. Ultimately, railroads, ships, and trucks are regularly used to deliver goods, and they can be considered either connected or separate for this purpose. One of the major infrastructure barriers that exists pertains to the coordination of these different transportation methods. In particular, the private companies that manage these vehicles are many, so it is difficult to communicate effectively in order to accomplish efficient delivery (Stommes, 2003). Communication failures can result in a lack of information that results in loss of timeliness, thereby postponing the delivery of products to their final destination. Furthermore, the equipment that is available within these companies differs and are therefore provide reliable service to varying degrees (DeBoer, 1992).

As a consequence of these problems, a major consequence is products are not delivered on time, which feeds back into the consumer supply and demand chain. When products are not readily available as expected, they will become more expensive if they are in high demand. Therefore, it is possible that such a delay in transportation service will have a direct impact on the economy. To resolve this problem it is necessary to improve communication between companies and to ensure that their service is reliable. A simple way to do so would be to increase the education and training of employees. Furthermore, both legal and company policies should be implemented to ensure reliability across the board.

When goods are not delivered within the appropriate time constraints, the consumers are less likely to continue to work with the particular transportation service again. This has a large downstream impact in the business industry because company may need to rethink their supply chain strategies and their customers will begin to lose trust in the company for their inability to deliver the product on time. Therefore, it is essential for companies to voice their needs to the transportation companies to ensure that needs can be met. Once this information is received, the transportation industry must communicate with personnel and form a plan in order to ensure that these needs can be realized. Since this may include the need for employees to think on their feet, transportation companies should include training programs that allow workers to acquire this skill. On a larger level, industry standards need to be set to ensure that each transportation method and each transportation company is held to the same operational standards (Rushton et al., 2004). These changes to intermodal freight transportation will increase the customers trust in the industry, which will help improve the market as a whole.

An additional barrier to consider in increasing the efficacy of intermodal freight transportation is the fact that customer needs are constantly changing. In the modern world, customers expect things to happen quickly, and the transportation industry is no exception to this rule (Valdez, 2009). Therefore, it is necessary for the industry to determine how it can increase its delivery speed. Although a simple way to do so, improving communication, was discussed above, freight transportation can only be optimized using this process to an extent. Thus, it is important for the industry to develop more creative ways to do so.

An obvious solution would be to increase the speed over time of the vehicles that are used for transportation. Therefore, trucks, the rail, and ships can be optimized in this manner. In terms of improving the rail and ships, the improvement is directly tied in to the need to improve transportation infrastructure. The trains that are currently used in the United States are far from the fastest in the world (Sidney, 1846). Furthermore, the United States lacks train system that would be able to efficiently transport products using this method. Thus, it would be beneficial to invest in the development of this system so that intermodal freight transportation could be improved in the future.

Second, ships are necessary to bring large quantities of products into the country. Therefore, there is no way to replace shipping in terms of infrastructure improvement, so it is necessary to invest more greatly into shipping technology. Since the first ships were built, they have evolved over time to become safer, larger, and travel more quickly. Therefore, the United States government in collaboration with corporations that rely upon imported goods, should collaborate to improve shipping technology. This will ultimately increase customer satisfaction because it now takes several days for ships to reach the United States from the west coast of Europe, and significantly longer for ships to reach the United States from its major trading partners, such as China (European Intermodal Association, 2005). Engaging in this endeavor will help increase the reliability of the industry, which will help increase business as well.

Lastly, trucks cannot be physically modified to increase customer satisfaction due to the transportation and road policies that currently exist in the United States. However, companies can advise their trucks to behave differently in order to ensure that trucks arrive at their destination more quickly, thereby meeting changing customer needs (Costello, 2013). Currently, a majority of trucks employ one driver, who is not legally permitted to drive over a certain number of hours. Although it is necessary to ensure the safety of the driver and other cars on the road, these limitations waste time that could be spent delivering the product. A reasonable solution would therefore be to employ a second driver so that he or she may take over when the first driver is tired. In this way, the truck will arrive at its destination more quickly, and the customers will be more satisfied as a consequence of the efficient travel. Since saving the consumers time will allow them to make more money and the truck will be available to make a return trip to pick up more goods in a more time efficient manner, this is a win-win situation.

A final barrier to the efficacy of intermodal freight transportation is the infrastructure as it pertains to customers. The way that the industry is currently organized favors cost effectiveness, although it should also focus on speed and accuracy of delivery. Therefore, customers are concerned about the ability of intermodal freight companies to deliver items accurately. When items come from other countries or distant parts of the United States, it is difficult to track their progress due to the amount of different transportation methods that are necessary for a product to meet its final destination. Thus, it is essential for these companies to optimize their organization, which will in turn assist with increasing the efficiency of delivery.

The customer service experience differs from the industry’s need to improve its infrastructure primarily because the customer service problems can be resolved through the use of technology. Currently, a lot of information that is created and transmitted throughout the shipping process is done manually. While this is important to ensure that numbers are accurate, it is a slow method. The areas that can be improved on in this process are therefore information logging the amount and type of each product, where it is currently located, and where it is heading.

Essentially, computer programs can be created to track this information, and many such programs already exist. Each product can be given a label and simply scanned before it reaches the next step of the transportation process. If there are many different products, then this process can be completed in bulk. Therefore, when the consumer wishes to check the progress of the delivery, he or she could simply check online or through email and have a complete understanding of where the items are and how long it will take to reach them. This will be beneficial for the industry as a whole because it will help transportation companies resolve problems concerning lost goods more quickly. For example, if an item should have been moved from a ship to a train for transportation, they will be able to look up the product by label and determine why this process has not occurred because its location will be known. Furthermore, this will improve the reliability of the transportation industry, because rather than providing customers with a delivery estimate, they will be able to access real time updates concerning their item delivery. Since some transportation industries already have this system in place, it should not be terribly difficult or expensive to implement across the board.

In conclusion, although many factors exist that undermine the efficacy of the intermodal freight transportation industry, these problems have reasonable solutions. To fix the infrastructure of the industry, it is necessary to optimize communication and equipment. To increase customer satisfaction, it is essential to increase the technology that is used in the field in order to provide them with the most information possible about their business. Lastly, changing customer needs can be addressed primarily by increasing the speed and efficiency of delivery, which can be resolved by investing in technical advancement of current transportation methods and restructuring company policy.

Reference

Costello, B. (2013). The Trucking Industry: The Lynchpin of the U.S. Economy. Business  Economics, 48(3).

DeBoer, David J. (1992). Piggyback and Containers: A History of Rail Intermodal on America’s Steel Highway. Golden West Books: San Marino, CA.

European Intermodal Association. (2005). Intermodal Transport in Europe. EIA, Brussels.

Lee, E., & Farahmand, K. (2013). Simulation of Port Disruption and Transportation Resources for U.S. Containerized Imports.Management Review : An International Journal, 8(1), 4+.

Rushton, A., Oxley, J., Croucher, P. (2004) The Handbook of Logistics and Distribution. Kogan: London, UK.

Sidney, Samuel (1846). Gauge Evidence: The History and Prospects of the Railway System. Edmonds: London, UK.

Stommes, S. (2003). Rural Roads and Bridges, 1994-2000: How Did the South Fare?. Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, 35(2).

Valdez, B., David M., & Henry S. (2009). Hawaii Superferry: Is the Speed the Most Important Factor in Moving Cargo? Indian Journal of Economics and Business.