R&D Reports – Intermodal Transports

DESTINY – Investigations to establish design accelerations for static design of cargo securing arrangements for intermodal rail transports

The basic design accelerations for road and intermodal rail transports are currently not the same, which is an unfavourable situation for intermodal traffic. The question has therefore been raised whether cargo securing arrangements designed according to the road principles also can withstand the accelerations that may occur during an intermodal rail transport.

To establish whether the current accelerations are sufficient also for the design of securing arrangements for combined rail transports, it was decided jointly by UIC, UIRR and MariTerm AB on a meeting at UIC in Paris 2014-02-27, that dynamic test transports between selected terminals in Europe should carried out jointly as part of the European project Destiny.

BIOSUN – Transport Technology for Sustainable Intermodal Transports of Biofuel

This report has been produced by MariTerm AB as a part of the BIOSUN project, “Sustainable Intermodal Supply Systems for biofuel and bulk freight”, led by the University of Gothenburg – School of Business, Economics and Law.

The project aims to analyze and develop intermodal transportation solutions for biofuel and is expected to result in proposals about how these transport systems should be designed. Within this scope MariTerm has contributed with technical input regarding the cargo transport units used in these intermodal transport flows. The study has been financed by the Swedish Transport Administration through the Swedish Intermodal Research Centre, SIR-C.

BIOSUN report

FRAMLAST – Developement of intermodal cargo transport units

The FRAMLAST project has been carried out within the virtual research and demonstration center Sir-C (Swedish Intermodal Research Centre). The project has been carried out in close co-operation with the Department of Road and Urban Transport of the University of Zilina.

The work within FRAMLAST was divided into three parts; a continuation of the CombiSec project and trying to convince UIC to revise the rules for securing loads in combined units during transport by rail to be in accordance with the rules for road transport, a global part where the design of future CTUs for European transports in the coming 20 years are studied and a third part regarding details on CTUs to improve cargo securing and cargo care.

Framlast report, final version

CombiPort

Potential for swedish intermodal short sea shipping

CombiPort, which has been led by MariTerm AB in cooperation with WSP and Chalmers, aims to highlight the economical, technical, political and physical conditions that requires for a sustainable intermodal short sea shipping, as well as to evaluate how these transport flows could be connected to regional and international transport chains. The purpose is also to suggest suitable solutions and legislative changes in order to support cargo shifts from road to sea transports. Furthermore, the project aims to suggest how information technology could be used in order to increase the efficiency in ports, decrease the administrative burden and support intermodal short sea shipping.

The project has been financed by the Swedish Transport Administration as well as the Swedish Maritime Administration, within the Swedish Intermodal Research Centre (SIR-C). Responsible for the study is Andrée Falkenberg (MariTerm) & Sven Sökjer- Petersen (MariTerm).

The project reports are available throught the links below.

CombiSec

Proposal of unified cargo securing principles for road and combined transport trains

The principles for cargo securing in combined transport units (trailers and swapbodies) are different for road and railway transports according to current regulations. This situation is not ideal for the intermodal transport chain and a review of the regulations is required to obtain unified principles for cargo securing. This can be done through basic research, including tests, measurements, and calculation comparisons, testing if current regulations for road transports are applicable for transports by rail as well. If this is the case there are a lot of savings to make.

CombiSec – report

Evaluation of Intermodal transport chains

The purpose with this project has been to identify the weakest links in the intermodal transport chain. This should contribute with facts for the proposal given on how these links shall be eliminated, putting the intermodal transport chain in a more competitive situation.

Intermodal transports consist of a combination of different transport modes with the purpose of taking care of the advantages provided by each transport mode. For the intermodal transport chain evaluation we have been in cooperation with other competent persons, experienced in research projects. Participants in this project are: KTH with research in logistics and transport related vibrations, TfK which is a private research company, and MariTerm specialized in cargo care and cargo securing.

The main report as well as the interim reports made by MariTerm, can be downloaded in PDF-format via the links below:

PROTECTED – Security within intermodal transports

The report is a part of the Protected project, “Security within intermodal transports”, financed by VFUD Sir-C (Virtuellt Forsknings-, Utvecklings- och Demonstrationscentra, Swedish Intermodal Research Centre). The purpose has been to highlight the existing and forthcoming, optional and mandatory regulations, impacting on the intermodal transport chain. Thereto the project has aimed to describe the actions which different operators should accomplish to meet the security requirements within the transport chain.

The report can be downloaded as a pdf-file through this link.

MOS-Criteria

The report is a part of the “MOS-criteria” project, financed by V-FUD Sir-C, with BMT as the project manager.

The purpose with this project was to produce data for the EFM-STAN model. The data consists of a risk assessment for cargo damage, estimated costs for cargo damage and for cargo securing in different transport modes, cargo units and type of cargo. The cost for cargo damage has been compared with the cost of cargo securing for different transport chains.

The report can be downloaded as a pdf-file through this link.

Further information

Further information can be obtained by contacting:

MariTerm AB, Sporthallsvägen 2A, SE-263 35 Höganäs, Sweden
Sven Sökjer-Petersen
+46 42 33 31 04
sven.petersen@mariterm.se
www.mariterm.se