UIRR press release: Intermodal, an effective climate solution 10/10/18

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Intermodal, an effective climate solution

Intermodal freight transport is an effective tool in the decarbonization of longer distance overland logistics, which is viewed as an absolute necessity to save the planet in the report titled “Global Warming of 1,5°C” issued on 5 October 2018 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change1.

 

Using intermodal loading units – containers, swap bodies and (craneable) semi-trailers (which hold the cargo carried) – Combined Transport offers a zero-carbon solution to freight logistics:

  • The short positioning road legs of Combined Transport enable the use of electric, hydrogen or methane powered trucks to forward the loading units between a transhipment terminal and the point of origin or destination.
  • At the terminals, electric cranes perform the transhipment of the loading units between the various modes of transport.
  • Electric rail, barges and short-sea vessels offer, already today, the carbon-free forwarding possibility of the cargo over longer distances.

UIRR shares the concerns of scientists, responsible citizens, corporations and politicians about the future of our planet, whose atmosphere is altered by the excessive use of fossil fuels. A process that began with the large scale burning of coal to power steam engines at the onset of the industrial revolution in the second half of the 18th Century.

Later oil and most recently natural gas were added to the mix, through which carbon captured over many millennia under the crust of the Earth is released in the form of carbon dioxide into the air. Transport is the single largest sector that depends on fossil fuels, and within transport, road haulage is the main culprit.

Combined Transport offers an effective and immediately available solution to de-carbonize overland freight transport.

With this message, UIRR draws the attention of the public, as well as their elected politicians, to the promptly available solution to freight transport de-carbonization presented by Combined Transport. The benefits Combined Transport could deliver may be accelerated by the timely adoption of the amended Combined Transport Directive, which is presently under consideration in the European Council.

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1 http://www.ipcc.ch/report/sr15/

 

You can download the press release in PDF below:

Intermodal freight transport is an effective tool in the decarbonization of longer distance overland logistics, which is viewed as an absolute necessity to save the planet in the report titled “Global Warming of 1,5°C” issued on 5 October 2018 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change1.

Using intermodal loading units – containers, swap bodies and (craneable) semi-trailers (which hold the cargo carried) – Combined Transport offers a zero-carbon solution to freight logistics:

§ The short positioning road legs of Combined Transport enable the use of electric, hydrogen or methane powered trucks to forward the loading units between a transhipment terminal and the point of origin or destination.

§ At the terminals, electric cranes perform the transhipment of the loading units between the various modes of transport.

Electric rail, barges and short-sea vessels offer, already today, the carbon-free forwarding possibility of the cargo over longer distances.
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