Intermodal Freight Transport - Transportation - Landbridges

Landbridges

The term landbridge or land bridge is commonly used in the intermodal freight transport sector in reference to a containerized ocean freight shipment that travels across a large body of land for a significant part of the trip, en-route to its final destination; Of which the land portion of the trip is referred to as the "landbridge" and the mode of transport used is rail transport. There are three applications for the term.

• Land bridge - An intermodal container shipped by ocean vessel from country A to country B, land bridges across an entire body of land/country/continent, en-route. For example, a container shipment from China to Germany, is loaded onto a ship in China, unloads at a Los Angeles (California) port and travels via rail transport to a New York (New York) port, and loads on a ship for Hamburg.
• Mini Land bridge - An intermodal container shipped by ocean vessel from country A to country B, passes across a large portion of land in either country A or B. For example, a container shipment from China to New York (New York), is loaded onto a ship in China, unloads at a Los Angeles (California) port and travels via rail transport to New York (New York), the final destination.
• Micro Land bridge - An intermodal container shipped by ocean vessel from country A to country B, passes across a large portion of land to reach an interior inland destination. For example, a container shipment from China to Denver (Colorado), is loaded onto a ship in China, unloads at a Los Angeles (California) port and travels via rail transport to Denver (Colorado), the final destination.

The term reverse landbridge refers to a micro land bridge from an east coast port (as opposed to a west coast port in the previous examples) to an inland destination.