IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/ndjtrf/207174.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Automated Transfer Management Systems and the Intermodal Performance of North American Freight Distribution

Author

Listed:
  • Zumerchik, John
  • Rodrigue, Jean-Paul
  • Lanigan, Jack Sr.

Abstract

For capacity, energy and environmental reasons, intermodal transportation is widely regarded as the preferable option for inland freight distribution. But because of the relatively high embedded costs, intermodal rail is currently only an attractive option for containerized goods carried over long distances. Transfers that in theory should entail only a few operations at a terminal in reality require multiple operations. This paper argues that by incorporating new terminal designs and an automated transfer management system (ATMS) at terminals and distribution centers, the resulting efficiency advances and productivity gains could significantly improve the economics for both long and short haul intermodal movements, including port shuttle trains. This system not only could significantly lower fixed costs and make intermodal more price competitive, but improve time and reliability to make intermodal more service competitive as well.

Suggested Citation

  • Zumerchik, John & Rodrigue, Jean-Paul & Lanigan, Jack Sr., 2009. "Automated Transfer Management Systems and the Intermodal Performance of North American Freight Distribution," Journal of the Transportation Research Forum, Transportation Research Forum, vol. 48(3).
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:ndjtrf:207174
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.207174
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/207174/files/2326-4636-1-PB.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.207174?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kim, Nam Seok & Van Wee, Bert, 2011. "The relative importance of factors that influence the break-even distance of intermodal freight transport systems," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 859-875.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Public Economics;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:ndjtrf:207174. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.trforum.org/journal/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.