Piggyback
Transport carried out by several modes of transport is called intermodal. It consists of, among others, a land car with a semi-trailer or trailer, as well as a container in maritime transport or a swap body. In most cases, combined transport is an excellent choice for economic and ecological reasons. The basic form of this type of logistics activity is piggyback transport. In short, this transport is based on the use of interchangeable body transport subsystems, so the change of the means of transport consists not in reloading, but in replacing the entire truck body or semi-trailer system and more. It is worth exploring the issue of piggyback logistics in practice.
Piggyback is rail-road transportation, which involves using rail and road vehicles in a single supply chain. In this system, a truck with a trailer or semi-trailer or a trailer alone will be attached to a pre-arranged rail transport by installing a swap body at a designated location.
Advantages of piggyback transport
Piggyback transport has a number of very important advantages that make it increasingly used especially in international logistics operations. Their primary advantage is cost-effectiveness. Cargo transport by rail is generally much cheaper than by road, but the high costs associated with transshipment often reduce these differences, and in extreme cases can even remove the profitability of the process altogether. Piggyback involves completely unhooking the swap body system from the truck and hooking it up to rail transport.
Another advantage of piggyback logistics is environmental. By burning less, rail vehicles release far less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than when using a road or air transport. This is increasingly important for many transport companies that want to operate without an overly negative impact on the environment. Punctuality is also among the advantages. Typically, rail vehicles are not prone to long delays resulting from, for example, increased traffic on the roads. In addition, the reduced risk of vehicle breakdowns during international transport ensures much less stress for the driver and no delays of hours or days. Companies using piggyback transport also point out the complete independence from planned and unplanned road works and weather conditions.
The human factor cannot be ignored either. Drivers, even if they observe the working hours, may after some time have lowered motor skills and therefore are more likely to make mistakes that eventually lead to bumps, accidents, or other road incidents. Also important is the presence of other motorists on the road, some of whom are irresponsible drivers who cause great danger to valuable cargo. When stationary, any truck is also vulnerable to theft or burglary, which should not occur during rail transport. So really, using rail-road vehicles in most cases simply pays off and is a good choice for economic and financial reasons.
Disadvantages of piggyback logistics
However, rail-road transport also has some disadvantages. Among them, entrepreneurs mention the increased risk of cargo damage during vehicle changes. The risk is mainly related to more or less dangerous damage to the equipment and machinery that make this process possible. Emergencies are always associated with large financial and time losses, as the removal of failures during reloading can be lengthy and affect the delivery time to a real degree. Another disadvantage is the larger number of transport documents and the number of entities responsible for damage to our cargo - often finding the guilty party is extremely difficult or impossible, sometimes the transport is also impossible in the case of certain items.