Advantages of Road Transportation

Door to Door Service

The greatest advantage of road transport, that makes it the core lifeline of the transport
industry, is its ability to provide door-to-door, from source to destination, warehouse-
towarehouse, doorstep services. This is something no other mode of transport can provide.
This naturally reduces cartage expense, loading and unloading expenses, and other
associated feeder transport costs.

Less Cost
Road transport is highly cost effective as compared to other modes of transport. It requires
a much less initial capital investment and also, the cost of operation and maintenance is also
relatively much less. Even though the rates charged by motor transport companies is a little
higher than that charged by the railways, the actual cost in the bigger picture, falls much
less when transporting goods by motor transport. This is because road transport helps in
saving in packaging costs, in the expenses of intermediate handling charges, and in the
feeder connectivity charges.

Less Capital Outlay

A relatively much lower capital Investment is required in road transport, compared to
other modes of transport such as railways and air transport which are much costlier. The
cost of construction, operation and maintenance of roads is way cheaper than that of the
railways or air transport. Roads construction is a public sector and primarily a jurisdiction
of the Government and Local Authorities. Hence, only a miniscule amount of revenue is
charged for the use of roads.

Disadvantages of Road Transportation

Vulnerable to Season and Weather Impacts:
Road transport infrastructure and travel is vulnerable to weather changes and seasons. For
instance, during rains or floods, roads become unfit and unsafe for use. Hence, motor
transport proves to be less reliable than rail transport, in the event of volatile weather
situations. 

Accidents and Breakdowns:

There is definitely a high risk of accidents and breakdowns in case of road transport. This
makes motor transport not a very predictable or safe option, as compared to rail transport.

Not the Best Option for Long Distance and Heavy Cargo:
Road transport is not very suitable for transporting low priced and heavy cargo over long
distances as it proves to be expensive.  

Water transport
Safety
Water transport is a safe and good mode of transportation. The risks of any
accidents are really low. The other forms of transport are considered much more
dangerous than this one

Extremely low cost

As we already mentioned water transport is the cheapest mode of transport
compared to transport by air or transport by land. There are no expenses for
construction or maintenance.

Limitations

Very slow speed

Water transport takes a really long time to deliver your goods. If time is an important
factor for you, you might consider some of the other transport modes.

Limits in operation
Water transport can be really limited in its area of operation. It needs rivers or deep
canals in order to operate properly.

Air Transport The major advantage in air freight is speed, but there is a lot
of handling inefficiencies, paperwork, airport congestion and more. But
recently air freight has a very strong growth these few years. Another
downside to air freight is that it is very expensive.

High Speed

It is the fastest mode of transport and therefore suitable for carriage of

goods over a long distance. It require less time.

Quick Service

Air transport provides comfortable, efficient and quick transport services.

It is regarded as best mode of transport for transporting perishable
goods.
Disadvantage of air transport

Very Costly

Air transport is considered costlier as compare to other mode of transport.

The operating cost of aero-planes are higher and it involves a great deal
of expenditure on the construction of aerodromes and aircraft. Because of
this reason the fare of air transport are high that common people can’t
afford it.

Small Carrying Capacity

The aircrafts have small carrying capacity and therefore these are not
suitable for carrying bulky and cheaper goods. The load capacity cannot
be increased as it is found in case of rails

Transportation accounts for up to a third of total costs in logistics. This makes it

very important for supply chain manager to pick the best-suited mode of
transportation for their companies’ logistics needs. The most common mode of
transportation is land logistics. This involves road, rail and pipeline modes of
transport. Rail transport is favourable for moving goods, which do not have a tight
delivery schedule, in bulk. It has the added advantage of not b e i n g a f f e c t e d b y b a d
weather conditions and consuming low amounts of energy
Importation of Effective Transportation System. Transportation influences or is influenced by
many logistics activities to include: Transportation costs which are directly affected by the
location of the firm’s manufacturing facilities, warehouses, suppliers, retailers and customers.
The transportation mode selected has an impact on the packing required, and carrier
classification rules determine package choice.

Inventory requirements which are influenced by the mode of transport selected for use. When
high speed, high priced transportation systems are used, the inventories required to be
maintained in the logistics system would be smaller as compared to that when slow, less
expensive transportation systems are used.

The firm’s materials handling equipments are determined by the type of carrier used for
transportation, for example, the handling equipments for loading and unloading the carrier and
the design of the receiving and shipping docks depend on the type of carriers used. An order
management methodology which encourage maximum consolidation of shipments between
common points facilities larger shipments and advantages of volume discounts.

Customer service goals which influence the type and quality of carrier source selected by the
firm. An efficient and inexpensive transportation system contributes to greater competition in the
market places, greater economies of scale in production and reduced prices for products sold.

Products might also incur damage while in transit, or warehouse workers might load the wrong
items at a shipping location. Such over, short, or damaged (called OS&D) shipments can frustrate
customers, too, leading to dissatisfaction and the decision to buy from a competitor for future
purchases

The Role of Transportation in a Supply Chain

Movement of product from one location to anotherProducts rarely produced and consumed
in the same locationSignificant cost componentShipper requires the movement of the
productCarrier moves or transports the product

Tailored transportation is the use of different transportation modes and networks based on
product and customer characteristics. ... A firm that sells office supplies and furniture will
have a very different tailored transportation strategy than a firm that sells bulk oil products

Tailored Transportation
The use of different transportation networks and modes based on customer and product
characteristicsFactors affecting tailoringCustomer density and distanceCustomer
sizeProduct demand and value