Intermodal Shipments, Warehousing, and Third Parties A Special Measurement Issue

摘要

The Commodity Flow Survey (CFS) is designed to capture shipments moving by more than one mode, but appears to significantly under represent intermodal shipments. Possible reasons include gaps in coverage of shippers, misclassification of shipments because the shipper outsourced supply chain management or the carrier changed modes, and disparities between presumed definitions of intermodal shipments and actual definitions based on record-keeping practices. This paper suggests alternate strategies for resolving these problems. Many of the gaps in coverage are also explored in the resource paper on the CFS scope.