Logistics of information in intermodal transport

Department of Logistics, Faculty of Economics, University of Gdansk, Poland

^* Corresponding author’s: Cezary Mańkowski – ekocm@ug.edu.pl; Dariusz Weiland – d.weiland@ug.edu.pl

Abstract

The contemporary economy is characterised by a high degree of reliance on modern technologies and information systems. Modern technologies have become a source of innovativeness and a tool for building competitive advantage across all sectors of the market, including transportation. Such technologies as telematics, RFID and GPS/GPRS have contributed to the development of transport systems. Information logistics is crucial in order for the modern technologies to be utilised effectively in transportation. This necessity is driven by the fact that information is a type of resource and hence requieres adequate logistics. The same applies to intermodal transport, where it is vital to manage the stores of information appropriately and efficiently through well organised logistics. This article discusses logistics of information as one of the key auxiliaries to intermodal transport. It also outlines an innovative approach to information as viewed from the perspective of domestic railway companies, which may benefit from implementing information logistics in order to utilise such assets as railway infrastructure, supply trains, train stations, sidetracks and ground adjacent to railtracks. This, in turn, will allow them to transition from being traditional transport suppliers to the rank of logistics integrators responsible for handling intermodal transport. The authors elaborate on the possible functional mechanisms of an intermodal transport market whose management and supervision is assumed by a domestic railway service supplier, thereby becoming an integrator of logistics for intermodal transport whose operating draws on information flows between operators working in different sectors of transport.