General info

By combined transport is meant:

The combination of at least two modes of transport in a single logistics chain, in which there is no change of shipping container (even Intermodal Transport Unit/ITU)

and whose journeys take place:

by rail, waterway or short sea shipping for the main sea transits,
by road for the initial and/or final transits.

Combined transport brings together the advantages specific to various modes of transport:

rail or water is suitable for the transport of large quantities over long distances.
road is efficient for collection and distribution over short and medium distances.

New concepts have emerged with combined transport, resulting from actions by governments and the business world; here we will deal with the following:

Piggyback: generic term grouping together all the techniques for the specific loading and unloading of semi-trailers on a train.

Co-modality (or comodality): an idea which means « efficient recourse to different modes of transport in isolation or in combination » with the aim of obtaining an « optimal and sustainable use of resources ». This was widely advocated in 2006 at the time of the revision of the 2001 transport white book. It expresses a qualified approach to multimodal transport to the extent that road transport should not be set against other modes and that each one should be used in a complementary manner.

Optimodalité® : concept created by the Circle for Optimodality in Europe (COE) meaning the « optimisation of the technical, economic and environmental performance of goods transport chains ».