How to choose the right mode of transport for your goods
The type of transportation of your goods to the destination depends on a number of factors:
- The products you sell (e.g. perishables or non-perishables)
- Supplier production lead times
- Product availability
- Source of supply (e.g. China or others)
- Customs and Excise rules (e.g. duty or quarantine)
- Volume
You can use one method for all your transportation needs or a combination. Here are the main types of transportation, and their advantages and disadvantages:
Air Transportation
This mode of transport is useful for delivery products with short lead times, fragile and small-size goods. The bulk/value ratio will be a determining factor.
Advantages of the Air Transportation:
- Fast delivery
- Variety of destinations
- High level of reliability and safety
- Tracking of cargo location
- Delivery of small-size cargo
Disadvantages of the Air Transportation:
- Flight delays and/or cancellations
- Customs and Excise/size/weight/packing restrictions
- High air freight rates
Sea Transportation:
Mainly sea transportation is conducted in containers which vary in size. Goods can be delivered as grouped cargo into a container (LCL) or as full-container load shipment (FCL).
Advantages of the Sea Transportation:
- High level of safety
- The cheapest cost of transport
- Easy to reload on any mode of transport
- Long distance delivery, including remote and hard-to-reach places
- Variety of destinations
- Ideal for transportation of heavy, bulky and oversized cargo
- Suitable for products with long lead times
- Flow capacity of shipping lines without any restrictions, except for ports opportunities
Disadvantages of the Sea Transportation:
- Longer lead/delivery times
- Season surcharges
- Frequent (monthly) changes in ocean freight rates by shipping lines
- Deadlines of drop-off
- Short navigation period for North regions
Rail Transportation:
Rail transportation is useful for the delivery of a wide range of goods including coal, steel and other heavy goods.
Advantages of the Rail Transportation:
- Longer lead/delivery times
- Cost-effective
- High level of safety and reliability
Disadvantages of the Rail Transportation:
- Suppliers/customers are not always located near a railroad freight depot and delivery to/from the depot can be costly and time consuming
Road Transportation:
A very popular mode of transport to deliver cargo. Goods can be packed/grouped in box, vans or in containers which are also used for sea transportation.
Advantages of the Road Transportation:
- Cost-effective, especially for LCL shipments
- Fast delivery
- Variety of destinations
- High level of safety and reliability
- Ideal for short distances of the delivery of small consignment cargo
- Easy to monitor location of goods
Disadvantages of the Road Transportation:
- Transport subject to traffic delays
- Restrictions during the delivery of LCL cargo, which require special temperature conditions
- Bad weather conditions
- Longer delivery of LCL cargo
Multimodal transportation:
Multimodal transportation (also known as combined transportation) is a delivery of goods under a single contract, but performed with two different means of transport at least (sea, rail, road and air), using of a various transport infrastructure (terminals, warehouses for consolidation, ports, airports). For multimodal transportation there is only one company-carrier which is responsible for the organization of transportation from the beginning to the end.
Advantages of the multimodal transportation:
- Faster transit of goods
- Cost-effective
- Long distance delivery, including remote and hard-to-reach places
- Variety of destinations
- Advantages of all types of transportation
- One agent is responsible for the delivery by all means of transport
Disadvantages of the multimodal transportation:
- More reloadings and risks related to reloadings.
Please also read other articles in this section:
USING TEU IS VERY CONVENIENT!
It’s interesting that 20 or 40 foot container became the standard only in 1964! Modern transportation cannot be imagined without containers for obvious reasons:
1.Container protects the cargo from environmental influences and ensures preservation for any mode of transportation;
2.The same container can be moved from one mode of transport to another (from ship to rail or truck) without unloading and reloading the contents of the container;
3.Container must be sealed, so only final consignee can open it. Sealed contained guarantees the safety of the cargo and helps to avoid a lot of claims against the carrier.
Hence, container transportation is very convenient, fast, reliable and affordable.