Analysis of the high-quality development in port rail-water intermodal transportation Characteristics

Port collection and distribution railways construction has significantly promoted the transport structure adjustment in China. The transport volume maintained a high growth rate in container rail-water intermodal transportation with the continuously policy support. However, the increase of the growth rate gradually slows down. The driving factors of the growth rate changes need a systematically understanding to better motivate the development of rail-water intermodal transportation. We explored the characteristics of rail-water intermodal transport using the infrastructure and transport data from 63 major ports and 110 important port areas. The result show that the development of rail-water intermodal transport is inhibited by factors such as geographic distribution, cost strategy and the competition with river water transport. Further, the rail-water intermodal transport volume limited by the access rate and capacity of port railway infrastructure. Therefore, both manage strategy and construction action are required to promote high-quality development of rail-water intermodal transportation, thereby enhancing logistics efficiency and reducing costs.