The green marks represent the price and duration of transport modes in unimodal transport chains. The yellow marks T1 to T4 symbolize intermodal transport chains via the terminals 1 to 4 that are either cheaper or faster than unimodal transports. The red marks T5 to T7 mean intermodal transport chains via the terminals 5 to 7 that are neither less expensive nor faster than the unimodal transport solutions. Following the argumentation of van Riessen (2013), van Riessen et al. (2013a), van Riessen et al. (2013b) and Tavasszy et al. (2015) the flexible combination of different intermodal transport chains within a synchromodal network leads to a variety of synchromodal solutions that are faster and less expensive than unimodal transport chains and that complement existing intermodal transport chains. The black line represents the mentioned complementation of existing intermodal transport chains. The hatched area corresponds to the added value of synchromodal transport services compared to unimodal transport solutions.
However, the experts pointed out several aspects of maritime logistics which counteract the concept of synchromodality. One central counteracting aspect are the contractual regulations concerning the dwell-times of containers. In contrary to Tavasszy et al. (2015) the reduction of dwell-times is not the single aim of maritime container logistics. The usage of containers as a storage unit at variable costs and therefore the flexibility to prolong the dwell-time for a minimum price is an important aim of maritime container logistics as well. The prolongation of the duration at a minimum price is an aspect which has been neglected by Tavasszy et al. (2015). The following figure illustrates how the concept of synchromodality should be amended by this aim. The orange line symbolizes the aim of a prolongation at minimum costs.