Many port cities like Hong Kong are facing high land and labour costs in developing their logistics infrastructure. Shifting the infrastructure towards their hinterlands is becoming a trend despite its lower effectiveness in freight operation. In addition, the rising demand for just-in-time transport to lower inventory costs is another challenge. Amongst conventional carriers: heavy rail and barges are not usually JIT carriers; although trucks are, they are costly in LTL operations. As a result, a specialized freight system that enables automated cargo deliveries to high-rise buildings and economically handles various consignment volumes is promoted. A new containerization system and its implementation for intra-city and multi-storey transport is proposed and presented in this paper. It is specialized to handle small to medium sizes of cargo and is adopted in "an underground rail network and multi-storey transport logistics system (RMLS)" for Hong Kong and its hinterland. The RMLS comprises a 218km-route-length underground mini railway network with 19 stations, station branch lines, road shuttle vehicles and specialized container lifts in buildings. It not only supplements other transport modes with a high- responsiveness alternative, but also encourages new logistics business opportunities in port cities such as warehouses, distribution centers and value-added process plants.
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