Moving from intermodal to synchromodal transport: A maturity model applied to a case study in North Western Europe

In order to meet emission targets for 2050 in Europe transport needs to be executed more 2 efficiently. A promising way to make transport more efficient is synchromodal transport. When the 3 service provider has more flexibility to arrange transport, the utilization and use of intermodal transport, 4 such as rail, can be increased and emissions per unit transported are reduced. Synchromodal transport 5 requires a large change in way of working for shippers and logistics service providers that may seem 6 insurmountable. In this article a maturity model is developed for synchromodal transport that breaks this 7 large change down into several stages that companies go through when developing synchromodal 8 transport. In a case study, executed for several companies situated in Northwestern Europe the maturity 9 model is applied in practice to identify enablers and inhibitors of synchromodal transport.