The concept of comodality in transport
Comodality is a term introduced into EU transport policy in 2006 to define a system of actions aimed at the coexistence and cooperation of different modes of transport, in order to achieve optimal use of existing infrastructure resources and all other resources of the entire transport system of a globalizing Europe. At the same time, this means abandoning the pursuit of sustainable transport development through the promotion of the so-called modal shift policy, as outlined in the 2001 White Paper, which in reality meant pitting all other modes of transport against road transport. Today, the primary goal is to seek an optimum across the entire sphere of operation of all transport modes, including multi-modal transport.
The concept of comodality encompasses the intensification of the use of various transport implementation concepts, both new and already in use. New solutions include, in particular, two systems: the Modular Concept and Big MAXX. The task of comodality is also to increase the economic efficiency of concepts implemented to date, i.e., intermodal and multimodal transport, used for reasons such as long transport distances or different natural conditions separating countries or continents. The basic criterion for evaluating the effectiveness of all available or proposed solutions must be an economic calculation, conducted comprehensively both at the micro level (at the customer level) and the macro level (the transport industry), broadly covering economic, ecological, social, and other issues. Also significant are all additional costs associated, for example, with the creation of new infrastructure elements, especially point infrastructure.
Historical conditions
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, economic development has been increasingly subject to the process of globalization on a pan-European and subsequently global scale. The world market has become increasingly homogeneous, and its leaders have been searching more and more intensively for optimal locations for their business activities. This process inevitably led to a huge increase not only in needs in the sphere of trade and transport but also in specific customer requirements. As a result, the role of road freight transport, which has become an essential production tool, has increased significantly. Over the last ten years, the average annual growth rate of demand for services in this transport sector has been as high as 2.8%. Currently, the transport industry is characterized by a growing disparity between the current capabilities of individual transport modes and the expectations of service recipients, especially in terms of freight mobility. In light of the dynamically changing economic conditions in various parts of the world, ensuring a sufficiently high level of transport services is becoming an increasing challenge for the modern transport system. The current situation is as follows:
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maritime transport, mainly containerized, carries over 80% of the cargo mass in world trade, using huge container ships with a capacity of over 14,000 TEU and only about 40 of the world’s largest ports
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rail transport, primarily due to the failure of railways to adapt to the requirements and standards of the modern global economy and trade, carries only about 5% of the volume of cargo covered by international trade
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road transport, although showing significant growth dynamics, due to poorly developed Ro-Ro services and low efficiency of multi-modal rail-road transport (wrongly called combined), cannot fully benefit from the opportunities created by the popularization of comodality.
In light of the above, and as a result of the globalization of the world economy and the resulting changes in the processes of production and distribution of material goods, and consequently, changes in logistics chains, modern road transport is unable to meet the expectations of trade, especially international trade. It also struggles with increasing road congestion, queues at borders between customs areas, and a lack of highly qualified, experienced drivers. To meet the constantly growing needs for the mobility of goods, it is not enough today to increase the number of heavy goods vehicles and improve the state of road infrastructure. Comodality is needed, i.e., new solutions, both in the sphere of optimizing the use of individual transport modes and in the effective promotion of multi-modal transport, especially intermodal, i.e., carried out in one and the same loading unit, using successively different modes of transport, without transshipment of the goods themselves when changing transport modes.
The article comes from the magazine “Logistyka” 2/2009.