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The development of maritime transport

The largest amounts of goods in the world are transported by ship. Sea transport is facilitated by containerisation, shipping small‑volume items in standardised containers. In order for maritime transport to function, it is necessary to build ports and appropriate cargo handling equipment.

Water transport of passengers is entirely different from water transport of goods. It it effectuated mostly by large cruise ships sailing around desirable parts of the world such as such as the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, or Polynesia.

The development of air transport

Planes as means of transport have two major advantages—speed and security. Unfortunately, at the same time they are dependent on weather conditions and require highly qualified staff. The global number of passengers grows every year. In 2012, air transport handled three billion passengers.

Ten of the world’s fifteen busiest airports are located in the US.

Air transport underwent a fundamental change with the emergence of low‑cost carriers on the market. The factors that allowed the ticket price to drop include using cheaper airports, a mostly uniform fleet, luggage size restrictions, no on‑board service, and online‑only ticket sales and check‑in. Low‑cost carriers are only expected to expand further.

Automotive transport of goods

Automotive transport is a very important and fast developing part of land transport. Light commercial vehicles are limited to relatively small‑volume goods but they can connect from sender to recipient directly (so‑called door‑to‑door transport). Such vehicles are also unbound by timetables, and their route can be changed according to conditions. However, there are some limitations to their movement, e.g. due to their weight, pollution emission, holidays, or weather conditions.

Two large‑area countries dominate in automotive transport—China and the United States, where transport performance level results mostly from distance travelled rather than load volumes. Additionally, the alternative—railway transport—is much less significant in these two countries.

Railway transport of goods

As motorisation developed and thrived, it seemed that rail transport would become obsolete. The high costs of railway construction and handling equipment, timetables, and the need to transport goods from the terminal by other means were all unfavourable to the development of this form of transport. Additionally, different track gauges and different traction powering systems impeded international transport. That is why railway transport has stopped to develop in many countries.

This trend was reversed when fuel prices increased, pollutant emission standards for cars were tightened, and road traffic restrictions were introduced.

As far as passenger transport is concerned, railway is the only means of transport that allows less well‑off to travel long distances, hence huge transport volumes in India, China and Russia.

Logistics

With a constantly increasing number of travelers and volume of goods to transport, the process becomes increasingly complicated. International transport adds to the problem with different legal and financial systems and different availability of means of transport. Solutions to the growing problem are provided by logistics.

Logistics covers all activities that directly or indirectly affect the process of delivery of goods.

Keywords

logistics, transport, pipeline, transport network, air corridor, sailing routes, railways

Glossary