Connecting transport modesThe previous lesson compared transport modes one by one. In practice, many shipments use more than one: grain leaves the farm by truck, travels by train or barge to a port, then crosses the ocean by ship. Each mode handles the leg it does best: trucks provide access at either end, while trains and ships carry large volumes over long distances. The challenge lies in the transfers between modes, known as transshipment, which take time, cost money and create a risk of damage.Three developments have made those transfers practical:Unitized cargo, especially containers (see the lesson on warehouse equipment): a container can move from ship to train to truck without anyone handling its contents.Transfer terminals: ports, rail and inland waterway terminals, and inland ports equipped for rapid transshipment.Combined transport vehicles: trailers carried on railcars (road-rail transport, known as piggyback) and ships that trucks can drive onto (roll-on/roll-off, or ro-ro).A Brazilian exampleSoybeans from northern Mato Grosso are a well-studied example. For decades, trucks hauled them more than 2.000 km to ports in the South and Southeast. After the paving of the BR-163 and the development of terminals along the so-called Arco Norte, much of the crop began traveling by truck only as far as Miritituba, in Pará, on the banks of the Tapajós River. There it is transferred to barges that travel downriver to port terminals in the Santarém and Barcarena areas, where it is loaded onto ships. The route combines a shorter road leg, a long, low-cost waterway leg and an ocean voyage. Each mode is used where it works best.Intermodal and multimodal transportThe two terms are often used interchangeably, but the distinction matters: it determines who is responsible for the cargo.Intermodal transport: the cargo travels by two or more modes, but each leg has its own contract, document and carrier. If the cargo arrives damaged, its owner must establish which leg the damage occurred on and seek compensation from that carrier.Multimodal transport: the cargo travels by two or more modes under a single contract, with one operator responsible from start to finish.In Brazil, multimodal transport is governed by Law 9.611/1998. It defines multimodal cargo transport as transport carried out under a single contract, using two or more modes from origin to destination, under the sole responsibility of a Multimodal Transport Operator (OTM). The OTM is the legal entity contracted as the principal operator and may use its own resources or those of third parties; it must first be authorized and registered with the designated federal agency (currently the ANTT). The contract is documented by a Multimodal Cargo Transport Document, which may be negotiable or non-negotiable, at the shipper's discretion. The law applies to domestic transport and to international transport originating or ending in Brazil.For the cargo owner, the advantage is one point of contact, one document and one responsible party. For the OTM, the challenge is coordinating carriers, terminals, schedules and insurance across the entire chain.A manufacturer hires an OTM to move containers from Manaus to São Paulo by coastal shipping and truck under a single multimodal transport document. The cargo arrives damaged, but no one knows which leg the damage occurred on. From whom should the manufacturer seek compensation?Answer: The OTM, which is solely responsible to the customer from start to finish — that is the central difference between multimodal and intermodal transport: multimodal transport has a single contract and one responsible party. The OTM may later seek reimbursement from the subcontractor that caused the damage, but that is the OTM's responsibility.Brazil's freight transport mixA country's freight transport mix is the share of its total cargo carried by each mode. Brazil's is heavily weighted toward road transport. According to the May 2026 Statistical Bulletin from the National Transport Confederation (CNT):ModeShare (%)Road64,85Rail14,95Coastal shipping10,47Inland waterways5,25Pipeline4,45Air0,03Brazil's freight transport mix according to the CNT (May 2026)Together, coastal shipping and inland waterways account for 15,72%, slightly more than rail. Even so, almost two-thirds of cargo travels by road, on a network of which only 12,6% is paved (according to the same publication). Rail freight, meanwhile, is concentrated on a small number of products and routes: the CNT reports that railways carried 554,5 million tonnes and recorded 408,2 billion net tonne-kilometres (TKU) in 2025, mostly iron ore and grain.A note on methodology: when comparing transport-mix figures from different sources, check the unit of measurement. Measuring in tonnes (TU) produces one result; measuring tonnes multiplied by distance (TKU) produces another, because TKU gives greater weight to modes that carry cargo long distances. Publications from different years using different methods may therefore give slightly different answers to the same question.Who does whatANTT (National Land Transport Agency): regulates federal road and rail transport, registers freight carriers (the RNTRC) and publishes minimum freight rates. Antaq has the equivalent role for water transport, and Anac for air transport.Infra S.A.: a federal public company that plans and develops transport projects, formed when the former EPL (Planning and Logistics Company) was incorporated into Valec. It maintains the National Transport and Logistics Observatory (ONTL), a useful source of data.CNT: an organization representing transport companies that publishes regular surveys and bulletins, including the CNT Highway Survey and the bulletin used in this lesson.Policies to change the transport mixIn recent years, Brazil has passed laws intended to expand the use of higher-capacity transport modes:Railway legal framework (Law 14.273/2021): allows companies to build and operate railways under an authorization, at their own risk and expense, rather than only through a concession.BR do Mar (Law 14.301/2022): a program to promote coastal shipping by expanding Brazilian shipping companies' options for using chartered vessels.The effects of these policies take time to appear because railways and terminals take years to complete.According to the CNT's May 2026 bulletin, what is the combined share of water transport (coastal shipping plus inland waterways) in the freight transport mix?Answer: 15,72% — 10,47% for coastal shipping plus 5,25% for inland waterways. The figure of 20,17% would also include the 4,45% carried by pipeline, which is not a form of water transport.Market trendsTracking and systemsReal-time tracking: GPS and telematics in trucks, and RFID tags, temperature sensors and door sensors in containers and truck bodies. Customers can track their cargo, while carriers can detect route deviations, an important tool against cargo theft.TMS (transport management system): plans loads and routes, selects carriers, calculates and audits freight charges, issues documents (CT-e, MDF-e) and records deliveries. It connects with the warehouse's WMS (see the lesson on warehouse operations) and the ERP system, so goods at the distribution center can be picked in the order in which the truck will deliver them.Route optimization: algorithms determine the order of stops and how each vehicle is loaded, taking delivery windows and urban traffic restrictions into account.Digital proof of delivery: a photo, signature and geolocation recorded on the driver's phone replace the paper delivery receipt.Last-mile deliveryThe last mile is the final leg to the customer's door and is often the most expensive per unit delivered: many stops, small loads at each stop, traffic, addresses that cannot be found and customers who are not home. E-commerce has greatly increased the scale of the problem. Common responses include:smaller warehouses within cities (dark stores, covered in the lesson on distribution centers);pickup points and parcel lockers, which consolidate many deliveries at one location;smaller electric vehicles, cargo bikes and motorcycles for short-distance deliveries;scheduled delivery windows and advance notice to customers, to reduce repeat delivery attempts.DecarbonizationTransport is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, and diesel-powered road freight accounts for a substantial share. The main ways to cut emissions are:Switch modes: move suitable cargo to rail and ships, which emit far less per tonne·km.Switch fuels: increase the biodiesel blended into diesel (Law 14.993/2024, known as the Future Fuel Law, provides for gradual increases), use renewable diesel, biomethane and natural gas in trucks, and deploy electric vehicles, especially for urban deliveries.Make better use of existing capacity: run full trucks, reduce empty return trips, optimize routes, drive efficiently and renew fleets.Customers and investors have begun asking companies for emissions inventories, including emissions from contracted transport. That makes emissions per tonne carried a factor in choosing a carrier alongside price and delivery time.A retail chain wants to cut the cost of delivering small orders in densely populated neighborhoods of a capital city. Which measure directly addresses the last-mile problem?Answer: Offer pickup points and parcel lockers, consolidating many deliveries at one location — last-mile costs come from making many stops with little cargo at each one; consolidating deliveries reduces the number of stops. The other options affect earlier legs of the supply chain.Key pointsUsing multiple modes takes advantage of each one's strengths; containers, terminals and combined transport vehicles make transfers practical.Intermodal: multiple contracts and responsible parties. Multimodal: a single contract, a Multimodal Cargo Transport Document and sole responsibility resting with the OTM (Law 9.611/1998).Brazil's freight transport mix (CNT, May 2026): road 64,85%, rail 14,95%, coastal shipping 10,47%, inland waterways 5,25%, pipeline 4,45%, air 0,03%.When comparing transport mixes, check the unit of measurement (TU or TKU) and the year.Trends: tracking and TMS integration with WMS, last-mile solutions and decarbonization through mode and fuel changes and better use of capacity.ExercisesEasy1) What is the difference between intermodal and multimodal transport?2) A train carries 2.000 tonnes for 900 km. How many TKU (net tonne-kilometres) does the trip produce?3) Which document records a multimodal transport contract, and who is responsible for the cargo from start to finish?4) Match each agency to the transport mode it regulates: ANTT, Antaq and Anac.5) According to the CNT's May 2026 bulletin, what is the combined share of rail and water transport (coastal shipping plus inland waterways) in the freight transport mix? Is that more or less than half the share of road transport?Hard6) A fictional country has just two freight flows: 100 t by road, each travelling 200 km, and 60 t by rail, each travelling 1.200 km.a) What is each mode's share measured in tonnes (TU)?b) What is each mode's share measured in TKU?c) What does this tell us about comparing transport-mix figures from different sources?7) A company moves 10 million t·km a year, all by road. It is considering shifting 60% of that to rail. Use illustrative emissions factors of 90 g of CO₂ per t·km for road and 25 g per t·km for rail.a) How many tonnes of CO₂ does it emit now, and how many would it emit after the shift?b) The shift requires road legs at either end totaling an additional 300 thousand t·km a year. What is the final reduction, in tonnes and as a percentage?8) Illustrative figures for soybeans from northern Mato Grosso: on the old route, trucks travel 2.000 km to a port in the Southeast at R$ 0,15 per t·km. On the Arco Norte route, trucks travel 1.000 km (R$ 0,15 per t·km), transshipment in Miritituba costs R$ 15 per tonne, and barges travel 1.100 km (R$ 0,05 per t·km). What is the cost per tonne on each route, and how much does a producer shipping 60.000 t per harvest save? What cost does this calculation leave out?9) A company shipped a machine from Joinville to Manaus, hiring a road carrier to take it to the port of Santos, a coastal shipping company to carry it to Manaus, and another road carrier for final delivery. Each issued its own transport document. The machine arrived damaged.a) What type of transport was this?b) What difficulty does the company face in seeking compensation?c) How could it have arranged the shipment to avoid this problem, and under which law?10) A carrier makes 120 deliveries a day in one neighborhood at R$ 9 per stop. Because customers are absent, 15% of deliveries fail and require a second attempt at the same cost. Alternatively, the carrier could take the 120 packages to 4 parcel lockers at R$ 9 per stop and pay R$ 1,50 per package to use the lockers.a) What is the daily cost of each option, and the cost per package?b) What drawback do the lockers have for the end customer?Answer Key1) Intermodal transport uses two or more modes, but each leg has its own contract, transport document and responsible carrier. Multimodal transport has a single contract and one operator (the OTM) responsible from start to finish.2) 2.000 × 900 = 1.800.000 TKU (1,8 million TKU).3) The Multimodal Cargo Transport Document; the Multimodal Transport Operator (OTM) is responsible for the cargo from start to finish (Law 9.611/1998).4) ANTT: federal land transport (road and rail). Antaq: water transport. Anac: air transport.5) 14,95 + 10,47 + 5,25 = 30,67%. Half the road transport share is 64,85 ÷ 2 = 32,43%; rail and water transport combined therefore still account for less than half the road transport share.6) a) Total = 100 + 60 = 160 t. Road: 100 ÷ 160 = 62,5%; rail: 60 ÷ 160 = 37,5%.b) Road: 100 × 200 = 20.000 TKU; rail: 60 × 1.200 = 72.000 TKU; total 92.000. Road: 20.000 ÷ 92.000 = 21,7%; rail: 72.000 ÷ 92.000 = 78,3%.c) The unit of measurement changes the answer: TKU gives greater weight to cargo carried over longer distances. Before comparing modal shares, check that both use TU or TKU and cover the same year.7) a) Now: 10.000.000 × 90 g = 900.000.000 g = 900 t of CO₂. Afterward: 4.000.000 × 90 + 6.000.000 × 25 = 360.000.000 + 150.000.000 = 510.000.000 g = 510 t. A reduction of 390 t (43,3%).b) First and last legs: 300.000 × 90 = 27.000.000 g = 27 t more. Total afterward = 510 + 27 = 537 t. Final reduction = 900 − 537 = 363 t, or 363 ÷ 900 = 40,3%.8) Old route: 2.000 × 0,15 = R$ 300 per t. Arco Norte: 1.000 × 0,15 + 15 + 1.100 × 0,05 = 150 + 15 + 55 = R$ 220 per t. Savings: 300 − 220 = R$ 80 per t; over 60.000 t, 80 × 60.000 = R$ 4.800.000 per harvest. Costs not included are, for example, inventory in transit (if the new route is slower), losses during transshipment, port fees and ocean freight, which varies by departure port.9) a) Intermodal: two modes (road and coastal shipping) across three legs, with three contracts and three responsible carriers.b) The company must prove which leg the machine was damaged on to claim compensation from that leg’s carrier; each carrier is likely to blame another.c) It could hire a Multimodal Transport Operator under a single Multimodal Cargo Transport Document, pursuant to Law 9.611/1998. The OTM would be solely responsible to the company and could then seek compensation from the subcontractor.10) a) Home delivery: 120 × 9 = R$ 1.080, plus second attempts at 120 × 0,15 × 9 = 18 × 9 = R$ 162; total R$ 1.242 per day, or 1.242 ÷ 120 = R$ 10,35 per package.Lockers: 4 × 9 = R$ 36 for stops plus 120 × 1,50 = R$ 180; total R$ 216 per day, or 216 ÷ 120 = R$ 1,80 per package. Difference: R$ 1.026 per day.b) Customers must travel to a locker to collect their packages. Home delivery remains necessary for people who cannot make the trip or who buy bulky items. Companies therefore tend to offer lockers as an option, sometimes with a lower delivery fee.
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