“La gestión de recursos: Sustentabilidad y ética” XI ... - nemac

– and this may generate among users and stakeholders an ambiance of surprise due to the
agility of the transition.
Maturity: Here are the new balance of the acting powers - such as the capacity, costs, time,
flexibility and safety - in the matrix of participation by the achieved modal change.
As per Bravo (2000), the kinds of transport which were solely competitors, today are –
beyond being competitors – complementary and vice-versa. Consequently, it is possible to
obtain costs balance, productivity and agility. To Soares (2008), modal shift is one of the
sustainable logistics solutions with emphasis on the integral approach in connection with
modals mobility.
The involved cargo agents must use this possibility for the analysis of the cargo
transport systems in general so that, for instance, the urban cargo conflict be eliminated,
adding therefore the advantages of each modal in a multi-modal system. As it can be seen
from picture 2, there are variations among the types of services in connection with each kind
of modal. To Nazário (2008), some modals show a higher or lower cost for longer distances
and access to another modal; nevertheless, if combined, they may represent lower logistics
costs as a whole, what suggests a better balance in the relation cost-service for the modal
shift.
Picture 2: Comparison of service characteristics among transport modalities
Source: Nazário (2008)
New operational concepts are divulged about the modals to overcome the obstacles
of the need of urgent investments by the corporations in the intermodal terminal business. In
recent times, modal shift is used in three types of transport. The two first ones, as per
European Conference of Ministers of Transport (ECMT), cited by Bravo (2000) and Nazário
(2008) are:
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