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Intermodal Transport - Coggle Diagram

- - - - The Multimodal Transport Operator (MTO) is the person who enters into a Multimodal Transport Agreement and assumes responsibility for its performance as a carrier. It is any person who, on its own behalf or on behalf of a third party, makes a Multimodal Transportation Contract and acts as a principal, not as an agent or on behalf of the consignee or the carriers participating in the Multimodal Transportation operations, and assumes the responsibility for the performance of the contract".
        
        The OTM assumes total responsibility for the movement of the goods from the origin to the destination. That is to say, regardless of the route (sea, rail, road, river or air) where the damage or loss of the goods has occurred, the OTM is the one who must respond to the user, for such eventualities, except for the exonerating circumstances established in the regulations.
        The OTM performs the complete service from the shipper's door (seller) to the client's door (buyer), whether or not he owns the means of transport.
        
        Vessel Operating MTO: These are the largest OTMs, based on the assets involved in the business and the number of transactions are basically shipowners, who are involved in the purchase or hiring of additional services in other modes of transport, air, road and rail, in order to offer their customers the advantages of "door to door" service - replacing the previous system where they only dealt with the "port to port" section
        
        Non - Vessel Operating Multimodal MTO: Contrary to the previous ones, in this case the operator is not a Shipowner - owner of the vessel - but owns another mode of transport and contracts the Services of the shipping companies. The same purpose of offering "door to door" service in replacement of the previous service that was "door to port" is the motivation that drives these companies to join the Multimodal system.
- - - - In June 1991, the International Chamber of Commerce and UNCTAD agreed on new UNCTAD/ICC Rules for Multimodal Transport Documents, which became effective on January 1, 1992. This is not an international agreement, but a model of voluntary acceptance between the parties.
        
        The UNCTAD-ICC Rules on Multimodal Transport Documents, which came into force in January 1992, are a set of standard clauses designed for incorporation into commercial contracts. Because of their contractual nature, however, the Rules are subject to any applicable legislative text that has binding force and, as a result, cannot constitute a uniform international regulation.
        
        The ICC/UNCTAD Rules were not intended to replace the MT Convention, and were made for use by private agents who would voluntarily want to include them in their contracts; but they were in no way to serve as a basis for national laws on Multimodal Transport.
        
        The ICC/UNCTAD Rules are based on existing liability regimes, i.e. the liability regime of the Hague Visby Rules for Maritime Transport; but their application should be voluntary and they were not a model liability regime for the multimodal carrier.
- - - - Rail freight is not currently exempt from competition from road transport. But it happens that a large volume of goods is needed to fill a train. Only when there is enough freight in volume and frequency to fill one from the station of origin without stopping at the station of destination. This is how the so-called complete trains dedicated to the transport of ore, fuel, automobiles or other products, or the recent postal trains arise.
        
        Intermodal transport uses at least two different modes of transport, under an intermodal transport contract, from a place situated in a country where the intermodal transport operator takes the goods into its custody to another designated place for delivery situated in a different country.
        
        Intermodal transport is characterized by the fact of grouping the goods in "Loading Units" to reduce the handling of them, using standardized units such as containers, semi-trailers or swap bodies so as to reduce possible damage, such as theft, loss, breakage and to facilitate transshipment; transfer and handling of the goods from one means of transport to another, avoiding the so-called "breaking bulk".
        
        In intermodal transport of goods, the container is locked to prevent theft and hermetically sealed to prevent weathering; normal packaging requirements are less demanding and the goods are invoiced as a single load. The exchange of material is accelerated and containers can be stored; some terminals are equipped with electrical outlets to keep containers refrigerated. Claims for damage to container goods are much lower and theft has been almost eliminated. Intermodal efficiency and economy can be achieved particularly well in shipping.
  - - - Support services for ships include virtually the provisioning or supply of fuel, food, beverages, crew changes, offering reception facilities to recycle used oil, treat sewage and solid waste, in addition to shipyard/dock facilities and naval surveyors for maintenance and major repair purposes, similar to the services offered by the ports of Singapore, Hong Kong, Nagoya, Rotterdam, Hamburg, London, etc.
        
        Each mode of transport has its advantages and disadvantages in terms of capacity, flexibility, energy consumption, safety and environmental impact. The modes of transport must therefore be combined in such a way as to enhance the advantages of each mode and achieve a transport chain which is overall more efficient, economic and sustainable. Economies of scale are generated.
        
        Today, the railroad, the airports, the highways, the oil pipeline, the fiber optic communication cables, the international techno parks, the ports and the Canal, together make up the key infrastructure, which, in an interdependent and complementary manner, simultaneously take advantage of the unmatched geographic position of the Panamanian isthmus.
        
        One of the trends in Panamanian ports is to have terminals with systems, this allows the development of modal exchange processes, logistics management of containers and their cargo, allows a diversity of containers, vessels and vehicles and to have technology for physical handling and information exchange. This can be appreciated in the port of Balboa and in Manzanillo where there is all kind of technology.