CHAPTER 7
Alternative Transport Modes and the Role of Logistics Intermediaries
Road freight is the primary mode of transportation on trade corridors and the primary mode in nearly all landlocked developing countries (LLDCs), but other services such as river or rail are also important for LLDCs’ connectivity to trade. However, although the availability of alternative modes does reduce the vulnerability of being dependent on only one transportation mode, it is not as important as the availability of back-up corridors (chapter 3). Furthermore, trade relies on ancillary services provided by brokers and forwarders to clear goods in transit or at destinations and can benefit from the development of storage and distribution services such as container depots. Although not exclusive to LLDCs, these topics may be of greater significance because of LLDCs’ relatively small freight volume and shallow markets, which make implementation of sound policies even more challenging and economies of scale on the modal infrastructure difficult to generate. The main alternatives to roads as transport modes for LLDCs are rail, air, and waterways (rivers and lakes). Fifteen of the LLDCs have, in addition to road connections, a rail link to a port in a transit neighbor; only one has river-to-sea or lake connection; eight have both; and five have neither and rely exclusively on roads for all their international land transport (table 7.1). 123