Pick a product imported from overseas and describe the intermodal options for bringing it to a retail location in your hometown?

What will be an ideal response?

Examples will vary. The four major modes of transportation are 1. air freight, 2. trucking, 3 . shipping by water, and 4. rail. From an energy perspective, air freight and trucking are much less efficient than shipping or rail. The EPA also considers railroads best when it comes to noxious emissions per ton-mile. Further, freight railroads help relieve congestion on the highways; a typical train takes the freight equivalent of several hundred trucks. Trucks, nonetheless, are more flexible and can make deliveries right to the customer's door. Shippers can have the door-to-door convenience of trucks with the long-haul economy of railroads or ocean containers by employing intermodal shipments, which involves mixing the modes of transportation for a given shipment, such as moving shipping containers or truck trailers on rail cars. Air freight is the fastest, but costly. Trucks, being the most flexible, can reach destinations where air freight, shipping by water along rivers or oceans, or rail are not economical or feasible. Shipping by water, a preferred mode for intercontinental shipments, typically can handle containers of greater weight, thereby minimizing the number of necessary shipments.