Intermodala godstransporter i Sverige : En kunskapsöversikt av hinder och tekniska lösningar

In 2018, the Swedish Government developed a new freight transport strategy. The strategyemphasizes that climate-friendly modes of transportation should be used to a greater extentfor freight transport. Intermodal transport, where unit-ready goods are transported with acombination of transportation modes, has been proposed as one of the solutions. As part of thework with the new strategy, the Government has commissioned the Swedish TransportAdministration to investigate what obstacles there are to intermodal transport, and toinvestigate whether there are any technical solutions or innovations that can increase the useof intermodality. The purpose and aim of this work have been to support the SwedishTransport Administration with their assignment from the Government by compiling thebarriers and technology of intermodality.By conducting a thorough examination of previous research and reports of intermodality,mainly railway and maritime transport, together with an in-depth interview with a Professor inthe subject, several different angles and views on the subject have been gathered.The results show that there are several areas in the industry where problems have beenidentified. Regulations and organizational structure, the limited area of competition andtransfer potential, the quality of the infrastructure and the location and costs of the terminalsare the main barriers to intermodality in Sweden today.It is possible to use technical solutions or other innovations to help minimizing one of theobstacles, the location of terminals and costs. These can for example be horizontaltranshipment technology, autonomous transhipment technology, IT systems and simulationtools or innovative network structure and location of terminals.Although there are plenty of ideas of new technology and solutions, few of these come intoproduction. One of the problems is the users/company’s uncertainty about investing inprojects that they do not know will be profitable. Standardized dimensions also present anobstacle to the technology which then must be adapted to current dimensions and strengthrequirements. There must also be a policy at international, national and local level with acommon goal that encourages the use of new technology.Most of the obstacles identified cannot be solved quickly and easily by introducing newtechnology. Instead, authorities and actors in the industry need to review their priorities andcommunicate with each other in order to come up with common solutions