Intermodal

When cargo is shipped from door-to-door by shortsea, various means of transport are involved. At the very least, a shortsea vessel and a truck are used, but rail and inland barge can also be included. Therefor, shortsea can be multimodal.

Door-to-door basis

Shortsea shipping is based on the concept of carrying freight door-to-door, or factory to factory, like road transport. This is accomplished by using fast, modern ships, incorporating intermodal transport for collection and delivery. The total transport operation can be arranged by the shipping line itself and/or the ships' agent. The transit time to many destinations is only slightly longer than road transport and the cost is considerably cheaper, up to 25%, to many countries.

Containers/trailers

The majority of cargo moving in trailers is palletised. The shortsea services that are the closest alternative to road transport use 12 m. or 13.60 m. trailers and containers. Standard containers are less suitable for palletised cargo as the inside width is only 2.33 m., but many shortsea operators offer so-called palletwide 40ft containers for which the loading capacity is 24 pallets of 1 x 1.20m. Which is 3 pallets more than in a standard 40 ft container. There are even destinations, such as the UK and Finland, where 45ft palletwide containers are available.

Floating stock

Shortsea transport is especially suitable for larger volumes that have to be shipped regularly over longer distances within Europe. On shorter distances within Continental Europe, road, rail and inland shipping are more suitable. When larger quantities are shipped on shortsea vessels, the exporter/importer has a floating stock which can cut his costs by reducing the need for land-based stock.

Alternative to road transport

Congestion on European roads is worsening, especially on the main north-south and east-west routes. There are also more and more restrictions for road transport through the Alps. When using shortsea shipping, the longest distance goes via water and there are no traffic jams at sea.