Multimodal logistics has long been around, but geopolitics, trade patterns and available capacity are changing where sea, air and land transport connect.

The shortest route on a map is not always the best choice for moving cargo.

Businesses have long combined ships, planes and trucks to balance speed, cost and coverage. This approach, called multimodal logistics, is not new.

What is changing is where these connections make the most sense.

Trade routes keep changing as demand changes, new infrastructure comes online and transport capacity shifts between markets. Recent geopolitical disruptions have made this hard to ignore, forcing businesses to rethink long-established routes.

A port or airport that was once just a stopover can become a key link if it has the right schedules, road access, cargo facilities and available capacity.

The old logistics map is being redrawn

When a usual route faces problems, businesses look for another way to deliver their goods.

Sometimes that means bringing cargo into a different port. In other cases, it means combining ocean, air and road transport.

Traditional gateways still matter, but new ones can emerge when market demand matches available capacity. For global shippers, reliability today means not only having a solid plan but also a good backup when circumstances change.

Why Los Angeles can make sense for Asia-to-Europe cargo

At first glance, sending goods from Asia to Europe through Los Angeles might not seem logical.

On a map, this route can even look like it’s going the wrong way. But multimodal logistics has always involved more than just drawing a straight line between two points. It also considers sailing schedules, transit times, capacity, costs and the smoothness of transfers.

When everything lines up, cargo can go from Asia to Los Angeles by ship, then travel by truck to a local facility, and finally fly by plane to Europe. Interest in this route has grown, especially when usual ocean routes are disrupted or direct air freight is expensive or restricted.

The appeal isn’t about the route being shorter on a map, but that its different parts can work together to offer a real alternative.

Using ocean transport for the first leg costs less than flying goods the whole way. There’s also an efficient road transfer from the port to the airport before the shipment is flown to Europe. What may look like a detour on a map can sometimes become a practical solution in the real world.

As José Canales, Chief Operating Officer, Americas, Worldwide Flight Services (WFS), a SATS company, notes: “Global trade has always adapted to changing circumstances. What’s different today is the speed at which capacity, demand and market conditions shift. This is why flexibility becomes an increasingly important part of supply chain planning.”

More options between air and ocean freight

Many people think moving goods between countries is straightforward. If speed matters, use air freight. If cost matters more, put it on a ship. In reality, businesses don’t have to use just one type of transport for the whole journey.

A shipment doesn’t always need the speed of end-to-end air freight, but it may not be able to wait for a traditional ocean journey either. That’s where multimodal routes can provide another option, combining different modes of transport to strike a balance between time, cost and flexibility.

That doesn’t mean every shipment should move via a sea-air route, nor does it mean gateways like Los Angeles are suddenly replacing established Asia-Europe corridors.

What it does highlight is how logistics decisions are changing. Businesses are looking beyond traditional routes and asking different questions: Where is capacity available? Which connections are working efficiently? How quickly can cargo move from one mode of transport to another?

For shippers, that creates another possibility when conventional choices don’t quite fit. For the industry as a whole, it reflects a broader shift toward better use of available capacity across ocean, air and road networks.

A broader choice for shippers

For years, making supply chains more efficient meant focusing cargo on existing routes and reducing variation as much as possible.

This still works in some cases, but relying on just a few routes can leave supply chains exposed when conditions change.

Building resilience doesn’t mean giving up current trade routes or always choosing more expensive options. It’s about knowing what other options exist and being ready to use them when capacity, cost or risk changes.

Multimodal solutions can offer that middle ground. WFS, a SATS company, supports multimodal cargo transfers in Los Angeles, helping connect cargo to onward destinations in Europe and Latin America through integrated air, ocean and road networks. This reflects a broader trend in logistics, where transport capacity is seen as part of one connected system rather than separate trips.

For a long time, logistics planning has focused on finding the fastest or cheapest way to move goods. Now, it’s also about finding the smartest connections between them. ###