Innovative cargo unit for vehicles transport: technical and economic considerations

Abstract

A new intermodal container specifically designed to carry cars by both land and sea has been recently presented. This unit is a collapsible, 40-foot, ISO container with two decks and space for six cars. Because of its standard sizes, the unit will allow cars to be carried door-to-door (from factory to showrooms) by the same transportation means which carry containers all over the world. Cars were traditionally delivered using specialised land vehicles and vessels; such modes were not integrated and this fact led to multiple lashing and handling operations as vehicles were transferred from one mode to another. This paper analyses the benefits of car containerisation, mainly in terms of lower transportation costs and lesser space requirements for land Storage