The marine container (the international container) developed in the 1960s accounts for 90% of all periodical maritime transport in Japan. Also, the number of items handled by home delivery services that were developed about 20 years ago now exceeds more than one billion. These facts indicate that to improve multi-modal transport efficiency, a common basis encompassing packaging, containerization, and palletization must be developed. Commonality promotion and modularization are progressing well, especially in automobile production. The moving highway system has been studied for several years, which is equivalent to containerization or palletization in the ground transportation systems. In this article, the basic requirements for developing the moving highway system as an international transport system are studied, and a scenario in terms of vehicle speed, energy efficiency, and service level systematically built up, considering the Maglev development for the new flying era. (A*)
Abstract