Purpose This paper aims to study the function of standardisation in intermodal transport. It identifies where standardisation helps to improve intermodal transport, who is active in intermodal transport standardisation, what types of standards are needed and what the decision-making process and implementation of standards should be like to positively influence the performance of intermodal transportation. Design/methodology/approach An empirical study is designed to carry out this research project. The empirical study starts with a review of the organisations that are responsible for standardisation and intermodal transport, together with the standards that they have developed, and are developing, so far. It continues with analysing the topics where standardisation helps to improve the performance of intermodal transport. The analysis is based on 12 interviews, followed by desk research, to validate the respondents’ statements. Findings The results show that intermodal transportation should be distinguished in continental and maritime transport, which require different standards. In maritime transport, the hardware aspects of the system are highly standardised. However, further standardisation of information exchange offers potential to improve the quality of transport. For continental transport, challenges appear in the heterogeneity of infrastructure and loading units used in Europe. For both systems, openness and consensus are main requirements for the development of successful standards. Originality/value Standards facilitate interoperability, quality and safety of intermodal transportation, which leads to better performance. This has drawn little attention in the literature. This study addresses this gap and focuses on Europe.

中文翻译：

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标准化在欧洲多式联运中的作用

目的本文旨在研究标准化在多式联运中的作用。它确定了标准化在哪些方面有助于改善多式联运，谁在多式联运标准化中发挥积极作用，需要什么类型的标准以及什么样的决策过程和标准的实施将对多式联运的性能产生积极影响。设计/方法/方法进行实证研究以执行此研究项目。经验研究始于对负责标准化和多式联运的组织及其迄今已制定和正在发展的标准的审查。它继续分析了标准化有助于提高联运运输性能的主题。该分析基于12次访谈，然后进行案头研究，以验证受访者的陈述。研究结果结果表明，联运应当与大陆运输和海上运输区分开来，这需要不同的标准。在海上运输中，系统的硬件方面已高度标准化。但是，信息交换的进一步标准化为改善运输质量提供了潜力。对于大陆运输，挑战在于欧洲使用的基础设施和装载单元的异质性。对于这两个系统，开放性和共识性是成功制定标准的主要要求。原创性/价值标准促进联运的互操作性，质量和安全性，从而带来更好的性能。这在文献中很少引起注意。这项研究解决了这一差距，并将重点放在了欧洲。