Essential Terminology for the Auto Transport Industry

What is Ramp-to-Ramp?

Ramp-to-ramp service is the general transportation of goods or vehicles from one transportation terminal or ramp to another. This mode of transport only provides the transportation of goods from these facilities and not the last leg, from the final customer or from the shipper’s place.

Understanding Ramp-to-Ramp Service

In ramp-to-ramp transportation, goods are conveyed from one terminal and delivered at another terminal when the loading terminal is different from the delivery terminal. This service is used mostly in intermodal operations whereby shipped articles are offloaded from one mode of transport and put on another mode of transport such as the shipment from a truck or from a ship to a truck.

Key Characteristics of Ramp-to-Ramp Service

• Terminal-to-Terminal Focus: Hence, the primary emphasis is placed on the transportation of inventory from one node/center to another.
• Excludes Final Delivery: The concept of ramp-to-ramp service provision does not cover the last link of transportation to the final client’s destination.
• Intermodal Compatibility: It is frequently employed as a complementary mode of transport to build integrated single and multiple modal supply chains.
• Cost-Efficiency: As customer services increase the chances of handling the product minimally and providing direct ramp-to-ramp services, the chances of making high profits without incurring many costs are high.

Benefits of Ramp-to-Ramp Service

• Efficiency: There are also benefits in organizing transport between terminals; these can shave off a person’s overall transit time.
• Cost Savings: The removal of the last mile dramatically contributes to the minimization of transportation expenses.
• Focus on Core Competencies: Thus, carriers can be specialized for terminal-to-terminal transport only thereby making them or their operations much better.

That said, although ramp-to-ramp service has benefits, the final delivery of the product to the end consumer might be arranged by different transportation providers. This limitation can be solved in some ways: ramp-to-ramp service along with other modes of transportation or other logistic services combined can provide a complete supply chain solution.

Do you want to further know how ramp to ramp and door to door services work?