Multimodal freight interfaces are the nodes in the logistic chain where shipped goods are transferred between different modes of transport. Improving these interfaces will enable maximising the efficiency of operations (e.g. accelerating the transfer of containers or swap bodies between modes reduces the transit time penalty associated with intermodal transport). Improving the interfaces could also help increase capacity, lower costs, increase reliability, employ the right mode for the right tasks and decrease the carbon footprint of freight transportation. Facilitating multimodality would remove bottlenecks on the use of less carbon intensive modes - rail, barges or sea - when they are most suited from an environmental, operational-capacity and economic perspective.

Multimodal interfaces have three basic components: physical, information and institutional. The physical facilities where cargo transfers take place are a critical element, without which there is no multimodality. Having terminals equipped, and with access to different modal networks, is a required condition of multimodality. Common examples of such terminals exist near ports where incoming/outgoing cargo by ship needs to be transferred from sea to land. Dry ports and inland terminals associated with ports are one of the areas where multimodality, including by rail, is more developed. Another critical interface is all the information exchange - business, regulatory and operational – required to manage the flow of goods, which does not necessarily need to be located at the physical terminals. Advances in ICT and Internet of Things (IoT), single logistic windows and integrated data platforms can all contribute to more seamless interfaces. Finally, institutional alignment is also required, between different agents and operators in the supply chain, but also at a higher inter-governmental level. This latter factor, namely the fragmented market and institutions jurisdictions, has been one of the main barriers to better multimodal interfaces.

Synchromodality – co-ordinating the scheduling of different modal services to minimise delays – is a very relevant concept in order to foster multimodal solutions and it requires the existence of strategically located multi-modal terminals.