Intermodal transport is a mode of goods handling, which combines two or more means of transport. Through this it is possible to move the goods, arranged in so-called loading units, indifferently by road, rail, water or air, and has the objective of reducing road journeys, thus containing transport costs and polluting emissions into the environment. Intermodal transport is ultimately a special type of multimodal transport, for which transport units of standard dimensions are used. The characteristic of intermodal transport is precisely that it avoids cargo breakage, which remains within the same unit from the beginning to the end of the transport cycle. To explain what intermodal transport is, it is possible to refer to the definition provided by the European Union Commission together with the European Conference of Ministers of Transport and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe in their joint document Terminology on combined transport: "[Intermodal transport is] the movement of goods in the same loading unit or on the same road vehicle, using two or more modes of transport, and which does not involve direct handling of the goods at the transhipment stage". In Italy, the reference regulatory framework for combined transport is represented by the Ministerial Decree of 15 February 2001which transposes the Community Directive No 92/106/EEC of 7 December 1992. The decree makes it possible to define 'combined' transport when the length of the journey by rail, inland waterway or sea is greater than 100 km and the initial or final part of the journey by road is within a radius of not more than 150 km as the crow flies from the railway terminal, river port or seaport of embarkation or disembarkation. The use of several means of transport, as is the case with intermodal transport, could at least at first sight lead to the assumption of higher costs compared to unimodal transport. On the contrary, the possibility of transporting goods organised in standard loading units, concentrated in large logistics terminals, in vehicles with large loading capacities, over long distances and with low costs per unit distance has offered the possibility of reducing transport costs. It is no coincidence, therefore, that the European Union intends to shift at least 30% of freight traffic over 350 kilometres by rail by 2030. Multimodal transport, as intermodal is also called, is after all an extremely flexible freight transport system. It would therefore be possible to benefit at the same time from the advantages of the available means. From an economic point of view, this means a reduction in costs due to the greater efficiency of combined transport. From an environmental point of view, too, a reduction in environmental impact is possible. For example, if the European targets mentioned above were met, CO2 emissions could be reduced by up to 55% compared to road transport alone.