Evaluating the Efficiency of Multimodal Transportation in International Logistics: A Composite Multi-Dimensional Score Analysis with Implications for India

Global supply chains are under mounting pressure to do more with less — to move goods faster, more reliably, at lower cost, and with a shrinking environmental footprint. Multimodal transportation, which strings together two or more modes of transport under a single logistics contract, is widely regarded as the answer. Yet surprisingly few studies attempt to measure its efficiency in a rigorous, multi-dimensional way. This paper does exactly that. Drawing on secondary data from UNCTAD, the World Bank Logistics Performance Index, Sea-Intelligence, Flexport, and India’s Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation (DFCCIL), we construct a Composite Multimodal Efficiency Score (CMES) that weighs cost (30%), transit time (25%), schedule reliability (25%), and carbon emissions (20%). Applied to the Asia-Europe and Trans-Pacific corridors, the optimised Sea-Rail configuration scores 7.1 out of 10 — roughly 20 per cent above All-Sea transport. A total landed cost analysis shows Sea-Rail is, counterintuitively, 18.3 per cent cheaper for high-value cargo once inventory and buffer stock costs are factored in. For India, the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor alone has cut the port-to-hinterland rail transit by 80 per cent. Our findings strongly support the alternative hypothesis that multimodal transportation delivers significantly superior logistics efficiency, and carry concrete implications for Indian trade policy, exporters, and the Gujarat logistics ecosystem.