Charlotte’s Intermodal Hub

Modal Integration as a Way Forward

Information technology is impacting how airports around the world conduct their operations and their businesses. It is also causing airport personnel to rethink the role their facilities play in regional integration and how they interface with other transportation modes.

What does business need from the transportation system in a 21st century economy? The influence of IT on all forms of business has driven the need for higher levels of co-ordination in the flow of people and goods to maintain production lines and service activities. If even one component in a production line is missing, the entire production stops. If one key person misses a meeting, the business cannot be concluded. As a result, “on-time” and “synchronized”, not “just-in-time” delivery, have become the most important factors in transportation and logistics. Reliability and coordination are paramount in the new model of business and were primary goals driving multi-modal integration at Charlotte Douglas International Airport.

Airports are long distance connectors for people and freight, providing a connection, and therefore opportunities, between cities and world markets. But in order for them to perform this function, they must be easily reached by the surface transportation system. Luckily, there are many modes of transport reaching an airport: Passengers arrive by transit (rail or bus) or road (taxis, personal cars, car services), and freight arrives by truck and occasionally, by rail. In the best

functioning system, however, there are many options for transportation to and from airports, and these options are seamlessly integrated. Passengers don’t want to face long connection delays from the parking lot or train station to the airport, and for manufacturers, delays mean money.
This point was aptly demonstrated by this summer’s Icelandic eruption, which stalled air travel over the upper Atlantic for weeks and sent airfreight operators into a frenzy. But delays also happen on road and sea. Inclement weather, natural disasters, and human error can all block road and sea routes for days or even weeks at a time.
What if every mode (road, rail, air) could be linked at a single hub so if goods backed up or arrived ahead of schedule, manufacturers could have flexibility in their transport options and take advantage of modal cost differentials (i.e., the rule of 10)? In a world where mass customization has replaced mass standardization, and precision “on-time, synchronized” deliveries have never been more important, modal flexibility and concentrated consolidation and distribution operations make perfect sense.
— M.G. & H.Y.