Proposal for economic aid for intermodal freight transport
The Swedish government has given Transport Analysis the task of analysing the need to promote intermodal freight transport and how that can be accomplished.
In this report, our arguments are centred around market terms and measures that could contribute to stimulating a shift of freight transport from all-road. We present how economic mechanisms are used in other EU countries to stimulate the shift of freight transport from all-road and provide an estimate of the costs of loading and reloading between modes of transport.
Our calculations show that transshipment costs are substantial and that they also make up a much larger share of the total cost of carriage by rail and ship than carriage by road. As a result, compared to heavy goods vehicle transport, much larger freight volumes are required over longer distances to generate economies of scale for rail and maritime transport.
We present a proposal for economic aid for intermodal freight transport in this report. The proposal is based on the current Swedish ecobonus system directed at maritime transport, but is more specifically designed to stimulate intermodal transport solutions. We have called our aid proposal an “expanded ecobonus”.
