Transloading, also known as cross-docking, is the process of transferring a shipment from one mode of

transportation Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land ( rail and road), water, cable, pipelin ...

to another. It is most commonly employed when one mode cannot be used for the entire trip, such as when goods must be shipped internationally from one inland point to another. Such a trip might require transport by

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame constructi ...

to an

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

, then by

airplane An airplane or aeroplane (informally plane) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurations. The broad ...

overseas, and then by another truck to its destination; or it might involve bulk material (such as

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

) loaded to rail at the mine and then transferred to a

ship A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...

at a

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

. Transloading is also required at railroad break-of-gauge points, since the equipment can not pass from one track to another unless bogies are exchanged. Since transloading requires handling of the goods, it causes a higher risk of damage. Therefore, transloading facilities are designed with the intent of minimizing handling. Due to differing capacities of the different modes, the facilities typically require some storage facility, such as

warehouse A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the outskirts of citie ...

s or

rail yard A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives. Yards have many tracks in parallel for keeping rolling stock or ...

s. For bulk goods, specialized material handling and storage are typically provided (as, for example, in

grain elevator A grain elevator is a facility designed to stockpile or store grain. In the grain trade, the term "grain elevator" also describes a tower containing a bucket elevator or a pneumatic conveyor, which scoops up grain from a lower level and deposi ...

s). Intermodal transport limits handling by using standardized

containers A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The ter ...

, which are handled as units and which also serve for storage if needed.

Transloading versus transshipment

Transloading may be confused with transshipment, but in modern

usage The usage of a language is the ways in which its written and spoken variations are routinely employed by its speakers; that is, it refers to "the collective habits of a language's native speakers", as opposed to idealized models of how a languag ...

they represent different concepts. Transloading concerns the mechanics of transport, while transshipment is essentially a legal term addressing how the shipment originates and is destined. Consider a load of

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit ( caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...

that is transloaded at an elevator, where it is combined with grain from other farms and thus leaves on the train as a distinct shipment from that in which it arrived. It thus cannot be said to be transshipped. Or consider a package shipped through a package delivery service or by

mail The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal sys ...

: it may change shipping mode several times along the trip, but since it is (from an external point of view) conveyed as a single shipment regardless of how it is conveyed or what else travels with it on the legs of its journey, it is not considered to be transshipped. Conversely, a load on a truck can be taken in one (legal) shipment to an intermediate point and then to its ultimate destination without ever leaving the truck. If this is specified as two shipments, then the goods are transshipped, but no transloading has taken place. The modern distinction between transloading and transshipment was not well codified in the period of the mid-19th through mid-20th centuries, when discussions of break of gauge often used the word ''transshipment'' for what today's careful usage would call transloading, or for any combination of transloading and transshipment.

Transloading facilities

Transloading can occur at any place. A

can pull up to another truck or a

train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often ...

, and transloading may be accomplished by no more elaborate means than teamsters and stevedores. In the interests of speed and efficiency, however, a variety of specialized equipment is used to handle the goods. Thus, intermodal facilities have specialized

cranes Crane or cranes may refer to: Common meanings * Crane (bird), a large, long-necked bird * Crane (machine), industrial machinery for lifting ** Crane (rail), a crane suited for use on railroads People and fictional characters * Crane (surname ...

for handling the

, and

coal pier A coal pier is a transloading facility designed for the transfer of coal between rail and ship. The typical facility for loading ships consists of a holding area and a system of conveyors for transferring the coal to dockside and loading it into ...

s have car dumpers, loaders, conveyors, and other equipment for unloading and loading

railroad car A railroad car, railcar (American and Canadian English), railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck (British English and UIC), also called a train car, train wagon, train carriage or train truck, is a ...

s and

s quickly and with a minimum of personnel. Transloading facilities may also make use of a Bulk Transloading System to provide visibility of a transloading operation including rail, storage, over the road drivers, dray drivers, bookings, and the master load plan. Often the equipment used to ship the goods is optimized for rapid transfer. For instance, the shipment of

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded ...

s is expedited by autorack rail cars and

roll-on/roll-off Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or using ...

ships, which can be loaded without cranes or other equipment. Standardized containers allow the use of common handling equipment and obviate break bulk handling. Transloading is often combined with classification and routing facilities, since the latter often require handling of goods. Transloading may occur at

railway sidings A siding, in rail terminology, is a low-speed track section distinct from a running line or through route such as a main line, branch line, or spur. It may connect to through track or to other sidings at either end. Sidings often have lighte ...

and break-of-gauge stations. Where ports are too small to handle large bulk carrier ships, transloading can occur at sea, using transhipment platforms, ships, or floating cranes and barges.

References

* * * Origin, Destination, and Door-to-door Rail Transloading - {{Authority control Freight transport Intermodal transport

Transloading versus transshipment

Transloading facilities

See also

References