- The intermodal freight transportation market is projected to grow at a 7% CAGR from 2025 to 2030.
- The intermodal ecosystem functions as a complex network of ‘handoffs’ that must work seamlessly to transfer shipping containers between modes of transportation.
- These handoff points become capacity bottlenecks, leading to inefficiencies, delays, and increased costs.
- Next-generation technologies are reshaping the future of intermodal transportation at every level, i.e., mode of transport, stakeholders, personas, etc.
- The underlying fundamentals for technology transformation are better visibility for all stakeholders, democratization of data, and predictive planning for operations.
The Operational Strain on Intermodal Terminals
Intermodal transportation was designed around coordination. Today, that coordination is becoming increasingly difficult to manage at scale. As freight volumes rise, terminals face growing pressure from congestion, delayed container movement, fragmented visibility, and inefficient equipment utilization.
At present, the intermodal freight transportation market is slated to grow at a 7% CAGR from 2025 to 2030, according to Research And Market.1 This sudden upsurge in volumes is causing intermodal terminal operations to face capacity challenges. The overburdening of terminals and operations results in a vicious circle of in-terminal and out-of-terminal congestion.
A lack of timely information reduces visibility into operations for management and staff at these terminals, creating inefficiencies such as underutilized yard space, unproductive movements of container-handling equipment, and suboptimal use of internal transfer vehicles (ITVs) and hostlers.
Why Technology-Led Optimization is Becoming Essential
There are two ways to address these operational pressures. The first is to increase capacity by expanding existing terminals or building new ones. However, this is a capital-intensive approach that consumes a significant portion of terminal operators' working capital and will not be immediate.
The other way is to optimize the capacities of existing terminals through Industry 4.0 technologies, also known as the digital transformation of intermodal operations. While the first is a long-term proposition, using technology offers a faster, more practical path to operational efficiency.
Many terminals have already automated parts of their operations. However, siloed automation often generates fragmented data that is not processed in real time for operational decision-making. The focus is now shifting from isolated automation toward connected operations built around a single source of truth (SSOT).
Efforts are underway to automate equipment and processes in the intermodal terminal. However, siloed automation is generating data that is not processed in real time into an actionable source of truth for operations staff and management. Hence, automation is only the starting point of the digital transformation journey, which progresses toward achieving a single source of truth (SSOT).
A comprehensive, holistic roadmap is needed to achieve intermodal digitalization. At Tech Mahindra, our center of excellence (CoE) has developed a step-by-step framework for a digital overhaul of intermodal operations. The approach addresses challenges of seamless data connectivity, real-time data processing across processes and equipment, and analytics-driven decision-making.
How Tech Mahindra Is Enabling Intermodal Digitalization
Tech Mahindra offers a holistic suite of digitization and automation for intermodal equipment and processes. We categorize processes into inspection, monitoring, and maintenance. Automated inspection processes include container identification and damage detection, whereas monitoring capabilities cover reefer containers, road gate systems, and container location and asset tracking.
As intermodal operations become increasingly connected and automated, real-time data exchange and uninterrupted communication become critical across terminal environments.
Real-Time Connectivity Across Terminal Operations
Digital solutions such as automated container inspection and remote crane control require high bandwidth, reliability, low latency, and broad coverage. The movement of container-handling equipment across the yard needs seamless coverage without any disruption.
Private 5G provides improved cell edge performance, reliable connectivity, and wide-area mobility. Low-latency, high-capacity (bandwidth and density) communication is essential to automate yard operations, including container management, remote crane and straddle carrier operations, digital safety, and automated maintenance.
Data Proficiency
Tech Mahindra achieves data proficiency for intermodal terminals by designing and establishing a cloud-based data warehouse with an analytics landscape. Data pipelines are created to connect data sources with the data warehouses for efficient, real-time data consumption. Historical data can also be effectively utilized by migrating it to the data warehouse. Data analytics and dashboarding tools can then be applied for real-time data processing, insight generation, and predictive analytics.
Agentic AI-Powered Integrated Intermodal Automation
As intermodal operations become increasingly connected and data-driven, the focus is gradually shifting toward integrated automation and AI-led decision-making. Tech Mahindra’s ‘IntermodalNXT’ solution suite enables integrated transformation of intermodal operations using agentic AI. As part of this initiative, we are building next-gen applications that infuse automation and optimization across every aspect of intermodal operations.
Customer Experience Transformation
Tech Mahindra’s tailor-made customer services for intermodal customers are designed to transform the overall experience. Customer contact centers provide regular updates and alerts during the pre-shipment, in-transit, and post-shipment stages, while also enabling the upselling and cross-selling of value-added services.
AI Agents shift intermodal enterprises from task automation to orchestrated workflows by automating complex container transfer allocation across ITV operations at port terminals, thereby accelerating vessel loading and unloading.
Impact Across Terminal Operations
These applications have the potential to deliver:
- ~20% reduction in unproductive ITV moves
- Over 30% savings in ITV operating costs
- Up to 15% extension in equipment lifespan through optimized utilization and reduced unnecessary movements
The Road Ahead for Intermodal Operations
As intermodal operations continue to evolve, the focus will increasingly shift toward connected infrastructure, real-time data processing, and AI-enabled operational coordination. The combined use of automation, private 5G, analytics, and agentic AI can help terminals improve throughput, optimize equipment utilization, and support more efficient intermodal operations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Our FAQ section is designed to guide you through the most common topics and concerns.
Intermodal volumes are rising, straining terminal capacity and creating both in-terminal and out-of-terminal congestion.
Optimize existing capacity through digital transformation/Industry 4.0 technologies, which is presented as a more feasible and faster route to relief.
Siloed automation generates fragmented data that is not processed in real time, limiting its operational value. Without integration, terminals struggle to convert automation outputs into actionable insights, leading to suboptimal planning, delayed responses, and continued inefficiencies.
A unified data foundation enables real-time analytics, dashboards, and predictive models by consolidating operational and historical data. This supports proactive decision-making, improves resource planning, and enhances overall terminal performance. One integrated approach is exemplified through frameworks developed by Tech Mahindra.
Automation alone can become ‘siloed’ and produce data that isn’t used effectively unless processed in real time. Tech Mahindra’s approach is positioned as an end-to-end roadmap toward a single source of truth (SSOT), covering: digitization and automation of equipment/processes, empowered connectivity, cloud-based data pipelines and data marts/warehouses for real-time insights, enterprise integration across terminals, and customer experience transformation via tailored customer services and contact centers.
