In the first of a series, Manager – Intermodal ANZ, John El Bacha, highlights the benefits of Intermodal Containers
Intermodal Containers are the future of logistics at a time when supply chain resilience, cost savings, and safety are key considerations for all industries.
These highly engineered and robust containers are specially designed to move goods and products from location to location by road, rail and sea with increased efficiency.
The impact of destructive weather events, such as bush fires, floods and landslides across Australia and New Zealand, highlights how critical a reliable freight network is to both metropolitan and rural areas.
That’s where Intermodal Containers come in. They are safer, more cost effective, and significantly more resilient and reliable compared to transporting goods by road only over long distances.
Additionally, because rail is the primary mode of transport for Intermodal Containers, these containers play a key role in helping to reduce emissions (which we will cover in the second article in this series).
Logging logistics
One innovative project that sums up the key benefits of Intermodal Containers are KiwiRail’s logging cassette containerised platforms. United Rentals worked with KiwiRail to develop and produce the bespoke platforms designed to carry logs.
The cassettes enabled KiwiRail to convert container wagons semi-permanently which removed the need for specialist logging wagons. The containers revolutionized KiwiRail’s business by reducing costs and significantly increasing efficiencies and capacity across the company’s national network.
As population growth continues in both Australia and New Zealand, with Australia predicted to hit 50 million people by 2066, it is smart Intermodal Containerised Solutions like Kiwi Rail’s cassettes that will ensure the supply chain can meet future freight needs.
Operating at ground level
Let’s look more closely at the key benefits of Intermodal Containers, starting with safety.
The beauty of containers is that they can be loaded/unloaded at ground level rather than having to lift a one-or-two tonne pallet 1.5 meters in the air to load/unload a truck and trailer unit.
Intermodal Containers enhance safety in operations because workers are not working at height as they are when loading, unloading and strapping freight onto truck and trailer units.
Additionally, Intermodal Containers enhance road safety and help preserve road infrastructure by reducing the number of trucks and heavy and large B-double trucks on the roads.
Cost savings
Intermodal transportation reduces supply chain cost because of the highly efficient way it deals with large freight volumes.
Loading a container is significantly quicker than loading a truck and trailer unit meaning customers save valuable time each day resulting in significant cost savings over a year.
Loading containers and transporting them by rail is also a more efficient utilization of assets rather than having trucks sitting idle in queues waiting to be loaded.
Moving freight by rail is 16 times more fuel efficient than moving freight by road, with a doubled-stacked train able to carry the equivalent freight volume of 110 B-double trucks.
The sort of efficiency provided by Intermodal gives customers a sizable competitive advantage.
In Australia, with its large distances between major centres, the cost advantages of rail become even more pronounced when considering rising fuel prices and potential carbon pricing mechanisms.
Increasingly, to enhance efficiency further, companies are also investing in rail connections to their manufacturing locations, enabling them to load directly onto railway wagons.
Resilient, reliable, and strong
Intermodal customers are motivated by payload. They want to maximize the amount of products or goods they can transport inside a container.
This presents a significant challenge for engineers at United Rentals / Royal Wolf’s Centre of Excellence who are tasked with reducing the weight of the container while not compromising the structural integrity of the unit.
It’s a tricky balance. So, we collaborate with customers to provide a solution that is safe, structurally resilient, and designed to optimize payload and meet customer’s specific needs.
Beyond logistics and traditional supply chain, where most of the products are palletised, specialist Intermodal Containerised Solutions are also used to transport equipment and resources in the key sectors of mining and agriculture in Australian and forestry and dairy in New Zealand.
For example, refrigerated Intermodal Containers are used in Cold Chain Logistics where the maintenance of precise temperatures over long journeys is vital in the agriculture and meat industries. They help to reduce food waste, extend the shelf life of products, and help to open up new markets in more remote regional areas.
Intermodal Containers are an extremely valuable asset in Royal Wolf’s fleet because they are designed and built to last.
They can sustain repetitive, high frequency use for more than 15 years which makes them a vital part of maintaining a sustainable and successful supply chain across Australia and New Zealand.
Next up, how Intermodal Containers are essential to reducing emissions and creating a more sustainable industry.
