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Intermodal Freight Networks | Freight-Academy™

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GlossaryEN1 min readUpdated: Jun 23, 2026

Intermodal Freight Networks

Freight forwarders and logistics operators build intermodal freight networks to connect rail, road, inland waterway, and sea into a single, unbroken transport chain.

Quick Answer

Freight forwarders and logistics operators build intermodal freight networks to connect rail, road, inland waterway, and sea into a single, unbroken transport chain.

The defining feature is cargo continuity: goods remain in the same loading unit – typically an ISO container or swap body – throughout the entire journey without being unpacked at any transfer point.

Coordinated transshipment facilities such as freight villages, inland ports, and combined-transport terminals form the infrastructure backbone of these networks.

Last updated: 23 June 2026Published: 19 June 2025

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermodal_freight_transport

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Intermodal Freight Networks

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Definition & Explanation

Freight forwarders and logistics operators build intermodal freight networks to connect rail, road, inland waterway, and sea into a single, unbroken transport chain. The defining feature is cargo continuity: goods remain in the same loading unit – typically an ISO container or swap body – throughout the entire journey without being unpacked at any transfer point. Coordinated transshipment facilities such as freight villages, inland ports, and combined-transport terminals form the infrastructure backbone of these networks. On long-haul corridors like North Sea ports to Southern Europe, intermodal chains are often more cost-effective than all-road alternatives and generate significantly lower CO₂ emissions per tonne-kilometre. Intermodal should not be conflated with multimodal: intermodal denotes the physical principle of unbroken load units across modes, whereas multimodal refers to the contractual arrangement under which a single operator holds liability for the entire transport chain.

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Recommended format: Source: Freight Academy – Intermodal Freight Networks (https://www.freight-academy.com/en/glossary/intermodal-freight-networks), accessed 2026-09-12
APA style: Freight Academy Editorial Team. (2025). Intermodal Freight Networks. Freight Academy. https://www.freight-academy.com/en/glossary/intermodal-freight-networks
BibTeX: @misc{intermodalfreightnetworks2025, title = {Intermodal Freight Networks}, author = {{Freight Academy Editorial Team}}, year = {2025}, url = {https://www.freight-academy.com/en/glossary/intermodal-freight-networks}, note = {Freight Academy, accessed 2026-09-12} }

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