During recent decades, there has been very substantial growth in the freight transport sector. Freight transport is increasing faster than the economy or passenger transport. Demand is increasing more rapidly than supply and is resulting in environmental and social problems. Increasing congestion, too, is affecting efficient and reliable freight distribution, and consequently having a deleterious effect on local economies. Intermodality is therefore needed to make better use of alternative modes that have accessible spare capacity, such as railways, inland waterways and short sea shipping. Because of the increasing problems in road freight transport, it is important to consider intermodal alternatives that will make freight transport more sustainable and to use suitable combinations of the different modes productively. It is the role of public authorities to support intermodal transport and to provide the suitable framework conditions taking into account the public interest and the requirements of the industry.