Essay on Transportation and How it Affects Logistics

Container vessels, 18-wheelers, boxcars: these are probably the first things that come to mind when we think of freight. While ships, trucks, and railroads are some of the most significant components of freight, very complex systems and networks are also in place to support moving the goods that businesses and consumers want and need to nearly every corner on the planet. Of course, without actual goods, there is nothing to move, leading experts to refer to freight activities as goods movement.

Logistics is planning and executing of the movement and support of forces. When examining logistics I have to draw from my most

Due to the large quantity of freight and the long distance that it must travel to arrive to its destination exporters and importers alike have found logistic service providers essential to engage in international trade (Rodriguez, Comtois, Slack, 2013). While some Logistics service providers focus only on the area of transportation others specialize in freight consolidation, distribution management, and warehousing (Robinson, 2014). They have enough market knowledge, information and communication systems to offer supply chain solutions tailored to the specific needs of any company be it small or large (Rodriguez, Comtois, Slack,

The Transportation Industry can be divided up into infrastructure, vehicles, and operations. Infrastructure involves fixed installation such as railways, roads, terminals, waterways, canals, and pipelines. Vehicles describe the method of transportation such as the use of automobile, bus, train, truck, aircraft, spacecraft, watercraft, etc. Operations describe the ownership and use of the infrastructures and associated vehicles that operate in the infrastructure

There are several pros and cons to any mode of transportation. These pros and cons include cost, efficiency, and responsiveness. The goal is to find the most appropriate mode of transportation for the type, amount, and destination of cargo. There will be different needs for every product, origin, destination, and organization. First on the list is cost. Cost of transportation is one of the major considerations involved in a successful supply chain. Fortunately, in this department rail is one of the best performers. Rail is known for being a relatively inexpensive mode of transporting large amounts of overland cargo. In fact, “The price structure and heavy load capability

Using the right type of transport is very important in the supply chain. As we have learnt earlier the use of the transport mode is of strategic importance to stock holding decisions. Air transport is much quicker but the costs are high as opposed to shipping by boat or rail. Sea or rail transport requires having higher levels of inventory in-house to meet quick customer demands. Most importantly, customer service levels must be met, and this often determines the mode of transport used.

Transportation and logistics coordinate the movement of goods and people. The transportation and logistics industry is the catalyst that propels the American economy. However, it works both ways. Economic pressures on the national, regional, and local levels affect decisions and policies made by logistics managers. This paper will explore the intricate relationship between the United States economy and Transportation and Logistics management.

The way products are moved today has changed dramatically compared to the slow manual process in the past. Initially products were mainly moved on ships. Once rail became available products were able to be moved more quickly on land. Then came trucking and air planes that could be used to move cargo even quicker. These changes occurred slowly over time and each of them still have play an important part in transportation and the supply chain. (http://amhistory.si.edu/onthemove/, n.d.)

Roads and highways are the primary mode of transport and freight of the export and import

Why is transportation so important? There are different kinds of transportation. Transportation is used to get people or things from point b to point a. Without transportation how would things get moved? According to an article written by Marco Cristini, transportation has had a huge impact on many countries and without transportation it would be difficult for customers to receive their items from oversea. Like Newton’s Third Law, transportation controls the opposed reaction to every action. For example, when purchasing items online from Ebay, a website that sells goods, Ebay uses FedEx to transport items to the customers. When it comes to logistics and supply chain, transportation plays a major role. Each of these has a role to play. They all are connected together in one way or another. Sheikh explains that logistics activities cover the entire supply chain so they become important involving in improving supply chain’s overall performance. The goal of the logistics process is to merge and organize all activities involved in acquiring, converting and distributing goods from raw materials to finished goods to the customer in order to achieve customer service objective in a proficient cost efficient way (Bryne and Markam, 1991). Logistics is the main event that is where everything is coming from. Logistic is a part of supply chain which is also a part of transportation. The supply chain consists of 3 areas which includes

Logistics encompasses all the activities between the point of origin and the point of consumption, involved in the forward and reverse flow and storage of goods, services
and related information.

Transportation: a common word that people hear daily, but pay no mind to. Transportation is an industry that employs millions and stimulates economies everywhere. Without transportation the world as we know it would collapse. Cars, boats, trains, and planes, all built and operate in to serve the same purpose, to move items and people. Transportation falls into one of three basic types, depending on over what surface they travel by land, water, and air. Transportation is a non-separable part of any society. It shows a very close relation to the style of life, the range and location of activities and the goods and services in which will be available. Advances in transportation have made changes possible in the way of living and the way in which societies are organized, which therefore have a great influence in the development of countries

There are different basic forms of transport available for all retailers, air, land and sea and three forms include five different types of transport, which are air transport, road transport, rail transport, pipeline transport and sea transport. In the five transports, air transport, road transport and sea transport are applicable to Makro. Air transport is very fast and can either be short or long distance, it mostly transport high-value goods. Makro can uses air transport for transporting electronics devices from overseas because some of the products like Huawei smartphone that are provided from China. Road transport is comprehensive, flexible, versatile and reliable, it is a good choice when transporting goods in short distance and door to door services, road transport is actually the most suitable and common way for Makro in which Makro stores deliveries in short distance and door to door, so that road transport is flexible and reliable for Makro to either deliver for customers or transporting from terminals when imported goods arrived, foods, housewares or even liquor can all be transported. Sea transport is the most cost-effective way of transporting high-bulk of goods over long distance such as internationally import, Makro imports many goods from overseas such as office furniture and other accessories.

Transport plays a critical role in the supply chain and according to Bhattacharya et al. (2014) it is becoming one of the key components of the whole supply chain valuation for many organizations. Transportation is the movement of good from one location to another. Supply chain is a network of individuals, organizations, activities, resources and technology that is involved in formation and sale of a product, which is from the delivery of source materials from the supplier to the manufacturer, through to the end user. Hopkins (2007) states that supply chain professionals look at whole business procedures, which is from raw materials to manufacturing, wholesaling and retailing. And by

• Inland transport ( by road, by rail, by barge, by mail, or by mixture)