A distribution facility including: a platform that is provided with a first transport portion for shipping and a second transport portion for receiving; a berth that is provided to allow a transport vehicle to be parked side-on; and a transfer device that moves back and forth between an intermediate transport area and a load bed adjacent area to transfer an article between the platform and the transport vehicle.

A raisable carrying device for loading cargo onto a rail vehicle using a hoisting unit. The carrying device includes at least one supporting unit for the cargo, holding pockets for the hoisting unit, and support surfaces for placing the carrying device directly on the floor of a terminal.

A transport device has a position detection portion, a holding portion attached to an arm, a driving portion to drive the holding portion and the arm, and a control portion. A control portion controls the position detection portion and the driving portion to perform, as one cycle, a procedure to detect a position of a parcel, select parcels based on a predetermined condition, and set priority for the selected parcels, and a procedure to refer to a result of the detection, and cause the holding portion to take out one or more parcels from the accumulation portion in accordance with the priority to transport the parcels to a predetermined location, and excludes, from parcels to be taken out, a second parcel that is present within a predetermined distance from a first parcel and has priority lower than the priority of the first parcel, during the one cycle.

A transfer arrangement (13) for transferring a semi-trailer (8) onto an intermodal pocket wagon (1) from a ground location beside the wagon, or vice versa, includes base roller beams (15) of first lifting means (15, 20) supported by the ground at the ground location and intended for lifting the semi-trailer (8) up from the ground, corresponding wagon roller beams (17) of second lifting means (16-18) to be supported by the rail or the ground under the wagon and intended for being elevated to substantially the same height as the base roller beams (15) or for being lowered towards the ground, and transfer means (19) for transferring the semi-trailer (8) sideways from the first to the second lifting means in the elevated condition thereof.

A shuttle bar (20) for a freight-handling device for transferring cargo from road to rail and vice versa using horizontal transverse loading, for moving a railcar pallet of a freight car to a loading platform and vice versa, wherein the shuttle bar (20) includes lifting mechanism for raising and lowering of the railcar pallet from or onto a railcar undercarriage of the freight train as well as from or onto the loading platform, wherein the shuttle bar (20) includes a bar base frame (30), a lifting bar (31), and a lifting-bar drive device (32) for raising and lowering the lifting bar (31) relative to the bar base frame (30), as well as a freight-handling device for combined freight transport with such shuttle bars, and a freight-handling method.

A system, method, and apparatus for palletizing cargo on a rack for shipment are provided. The system generally includes a tiered rack having a base tier, a support framework extending from the base tier, and a second tier adjustably attached to the support framework. The system may further include a plurality of lower frame support members positioned longitudinally across the bottom of the base tier, and a plurality of pneumatically actuated rollers spaced to cooperatively engage the plurality of lower frame support members, the rollers being selectively extendable from a plurality of raised tracks positioned longitudinally along a floor of the railcar, where the rollers are configured to pneumatically extend past an upper surface of the track when actuated and allow for linear motion thereover.

A vehicle includes a base, a pair of wheel sets mounted underneath the base in a spaced apart relationship to each other, at least one coupling members mounted on at least one end of the base along longitudinal axis of the vehicle, an enclosure upstanding on the base and having a pair of side wall structures, a pair of end wall members and a roof member joining upper edges of each of the pair of side wall members and the pair of end wall structures, the enclosure defining an interior compartment of the railway freight car and an apparatus configured to move the enclosure in a vertical direction relative to the base.

A system for handling shipping containers includes first and second lifting beams and first and second holding beams. The system further includes a plurality of vertical beams wherein the plurality of vertical beams support the first and second lifting beams and the first and second holding beams. In the system, first and second pluralities of lifting shoes are disposed respectively on each of the first and second lifting beams while first and second pluralities of holding shoes are disposed respectively on each of the first and second holding beams. The system also has a hoisting mechanism that raises and lowers the first and second lifting beams, and the first and second lifting beams, the first and second holding beams, the plurality of vertical beams, and the hoisting mechanism are arranged to form a lift beam system.

The invention described herein provides methods, systems and apparatuses for loading and unloading freight from railcars and methods for intermodal transportation of freight on railcars. The freight may be a shipping container or a semi-trailer. The system for loading and unloading freight on railcars includes a sled capable of moving laterally between a loading location and a railcar.

A raising/lowering conveyance apparatus has at least two sets of container holders operable to be raised/lowered in conjunction with each other, and to be freely movable closer to or away from containers in the back-and-forth horizontal direction. A sensor operable to detect the upper end height of the transferred containers which have been transferred and raised is attached to a position near the lower end of each container holder, to determine abnormality in posture of the transferred containers through a comparison operation between the value of the upper end height of the transferred containers detected by the sensor and the normal value of the upper end height of the transferred containers calculated on the basis of the height of the container being handled.