Transportation refers to the movement of products from one location to another.

Transportation
starts its journey from the beginning of a supply chain and finally weaves its way through various
stages till reaches the customer. Transportation allows the products to move across the global
network.

The logistical process consists of planning and executing the transport of input, raw material or
transport of the final products. In addition, it considers the transport service provided from its origin
to its final destination.

Importance of effective Transportation system

1. Greater competition

2. Boon to seasonal growing patterns

3. Economies of scale

4. Reduced prices

Modes of Transportation

Logistics is a very diverse and complex industry. It involves many modes of transportation and
ways of shipping goods. Sometimes, it may be challenging for a company to choose the right
mode of transportation to reach the best result. It can be especially difficult to domestic or global
shipping

1. Air- The newest but least utilized mode of transportation is air freight. Its significant
advantage lies with its speed with which shipment can be transported. All cargo carriers,
International carriers, domestic truck line carriers are possible through air transportation.

2. Package carriers- small packages

3. Truck- Highway transportation has expanded rapidly since the end of world war II. To a
significant degree the rapid growth of the motor carrier industry results from door to door operating
flexibility and speed of intercity movement. They can also operate on all types of roadways. Thus the
trucks are best suited to handle small shipments moving short distance.

4. Rail network - Railroads have handled the largest number of ton-miles within the continental
united states. As a result of the early establishment of a comprehensive rail network
connecting almost all cities and towns, railroads dominated intercity freight tonnage until after
world war II.

5. Water- Water is the oldest mode of transportation. The original sailing vessels were replaced
by steamboats in the early 1800s and by diesel power in the 1920s. A distinction is generally made
between deep-water and navigable inland water transport. The main advantage of water
transportation is the capacity to move extremely large shipments. Water transportation ranks
between rail and road transportation.

6.
Pipeline
- pipelines are the
significant part of
the united states
transportation
system. In addition to
petroleum, the other
imported product
transported through
pipeline is natural
gas. The pipelines
are also utilised for
transporting
chemicals,
pulverised dry bulk
materials, sewage and
water within cities.
7. Inter-modal – The
Intermodal
transportation is the
use of more than one
mode
of transport to move
shipment to its
destination. A variety
of intermodal
combinations is
possible; 1) rail-truck,
2) Rail-water, 3) Rail-
pipeline,4) Truck-air,
5) Truck-water
6.
Pipeline
- pipelines are the
significant part of
the united states
transportation
system
6. Pipeline- pipelines are the significant part of the united states transportationsystem. In
addition to petroleum, the other imported product transported throughpipeline is natural gas.
The pipelines are also utilised for transporting chemicals,pulverised dry bulk materials, sewage and
water within cities.

7. Inter-modal – The Intermodal transportation is the use of more than one modeof transport to
move shipment to its destination. A variety of intermodalcombinations is possible; 1) rail-truck,
2) Rail-water, 3) Rail-pipeline,4) Truck-air,5) Truck-water.

Participants in Transportation:

Following are the participants that together facilitate the transportation activities :

1) Shipper and Consignee :

The objective of moving the goods from their origin to their destination within the stipulated time
and at the lowest possible expense is shared by both the shipper and the consignee. Certain pick-up
time, delivery time, zero loss and damage, precise and prompt information transaction, and
predictable transit time should be included in these services.

2) Carrier :
The intermediary between the consignee and the shipper is known as carrier. Maximising the
revenue from the transaction and minimising the cost of carrying out the transaction are the main
motives of the carrier. Another objective of the carrier is to minimise the cost of moving the product
such as labour, fuel, vehicle cost etc. While maximizing the prices being charged from the shipper
and consignee. The latter objective is aimed at earning more profits.

3) Government :

As the transportation has a huge impact on the performance of the economy, it becomes a very
crucial factor; thus, government has a higher level of interest in it. In order to maintain a sustainable
economic development, a stable and efficient transportation is important. The efficient movement of
goods to all the markets is facilitated by the transportation and hence the availability of the product
can be ensured at a reasonable price. Some governments participate more actively in different
activities and practices associated with transportation. This can be in the form of ownership,
regulations, and promotions.

4) Public :

The main concerns of common public related to the transportation are its cost effectiveness,
accessibility, and different safety and environmental standards. The need of transportation facilities is
determined primarily due to the public because of the fact that they require different goods at least
possible cost at their doorstep. Because of different types of interaction between the above mentioned
participants, the relationship is quite complex among them. There can be different types of conflicts
which can result among the parties with micro-interest government, and the public. Thus, in order to
have a smoother process, some kind of regulations is mandatory.

Evolution of Transportation

The transport system has evolved with the development of human culture. It has developed across
several stages like the hunting stage, the pastoral, agricultural, industrial and commercial stages. Man
has made many achievements in thedevelopment of transport and at the same time has also
helped civilization todevelop. In the olden days, before human civilization, roads did not exist, and
peopleused to walk for their livelihood and social life. Long distance walking tracksdeveloped
as trade routes in Palaeolithic times. In human history, the only form oftransport apart from walking
was by using domestic animals.

The first earth tracks were created by human was by carrying goods andfollowing game
trails. Tracks were naturally created at points of high trafficdensity. As animals were
domesticated, horses, oxen and donkeys, dogs, camelsetc., became an element in track creation.
With the growth of trade, tracks wereflattened and widened to accommodate animal traffic. Thus
different animals wereused in different regions to local conditions for transport. Use of domestic
animals forsocial life was a part of development of human culture

During British rule in India, the administrators concentrated on the developmentsof roads and
transport in India for the convenient of marketing andadministration. Lord William
Bentinck reviewed the idea of constructing theroads by connecting Peshawar, Delhi and
Calcutta. Lord Dalhousie created publicworks department for the improvement of transport. Lord
Mayo and Lord Ripponacted as a stimulus to the development of road and transport in India. During
Worldwar II road construction activities increased. Even though, public transport was inpractice,
Indian villages were self-sufficient and most of people were using cartsand animals for goods carrier

Due to increasing trade in India over the years, an effective infrastructure

wasdeveloped through railway system connecting the entire country and as India showed
considerable growth in economy, ports and airports were intensively constructed to encourage
global trade.Selecting the best paths for the transport mode to follow to minimize travel time or
distance reduces transportation costs and improves customer service. Start with determining shortest
possible routes based on Transit time, Distance, and Cost.

Functions of transportation in Logistics

Transportation Functionality provides two major functions which are described below:

Product Movement

To move various types of products whether it is raw materials, components, semi-finished goods,
packaging material, scrap, and so on, transportation is very essential. While moving semi-finished
goods or W.I.P., transportation moves them to the next stage in manufacturing, whereas while
moving finished goods, it plays a role of physically bringing the goods closer to the ultimate
consumers.
 Transportation of a product involves the use of temporal (time) resources. A particular product is
inaccessible while it is in-transit. Such types of products, are called in-transit inventories. These
products are significantly important because they influence a variety of supply chain decisions.

 Transportation of a product involves the use of financial resources. Transportation of a product

involves various costs such as cost of driver, cleaner, fuel, taxes, repairs/ maintenance, etc.

 Transportation of a product also uses environmental resources either directly or indirectly. In direct
terms, transportation uses a, very large amount of energy in terms of fuel and oil. In indirect terms
transportation creates environmental expenses in terms of congestion, air-pollution and noise
pollution.

Product storage

One of the functions of transportation is temporary storage of goods. This function may be called as
the secondary function of transportation as transportation is not meant for storage of goods. E.g.: In
case the goods have to be moved once again within just a few days. It is advisable to keep them stored
in the transport vehicle themselves. This will avoid the cost of unloading and loading as well as the
possible damage to goods during such operations.

Principles of Transportation

There are two fundamental principles guiding transportation management and operations. They are
economy of scale and economy of distance.

Economy of scale

It refers to the characteristic that transportation cost per unit of weight decreases when the size of the
shipment increases. It is common knowledge that larger the capacity of the transport vehicle more
goods can be transported at a time which will decrease the cost per unit of transport. If

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smaller is the capacity of the transport vehicle then to transport a large amount of goods, more trips
will have to be made which will increase the cost per unit of transport. E.g.: Rail or water transport is
less expensive in case of bulk transport than smaller capacity vehicles like motor or air.

A transportation economy of scale exists because fixed expenses such as administrative costs,
invoicing costs, equipment costs associated with moving goods and materials get spread over the
entire weight of the load. This will help to decrease cost per unit of the goods transported.
E.g.: Suppose the cost to administer a shipment is Rs. 10.00. Then for a 10 Kgs shipment the cost of
transporting per unit of the product becomes Re.1.00, while for a 1,000 Kgs shipment the cost of
transporting per unit of the product Re.0.01. Thus, it can be said that an economy of scale exists for
the 1000 Kgs shipment.

Economy of distance

It refers to the characteristic that transportation cost per unit of distance decreases as distance
increases. Transportation economy of distance is also referred to as a tapering principle since rates or
charges taper (decrease) with distance. The rationale of economies of distance is similar to that for
economies of scale. Longer distances allow the fixed expenses to be spread over more miles, resulting
in lower overall per mile charge.

These principles are important considerations when evaluating alternative transportation strategies or
operating practices. The objective is to maximize the size of the load and the distance that is shipped
while still meeting customer service expectations.

TRANSPORTATION NETWORK

A transportation network or transportation network is a realization of a spatialnetwork,

describing a structure which permits either vehicular movement or flowof some commodity.
Examples are network of roads, railways, pipes and powerlines.

Transportation networks are spatially complex and therefore, difficult to analyse anddescribe. In
order to make sense out of the great web of worldwide transportationsystems, it is necessary to use
graphs and charts to study their characteristicsand effects on spatial realities. Transportation
geography graph involvesdevelopment abstract representations of transportation networks
that consists ofpoints and lines. When creating network graphs, geographers connect
pointsusing lines in order to develop an idealized measure of the structure of
actualtransportation system.

Transport Network - A Framework of routes between locations, where a permanent track (e.g, roads,
rail and canals), and a scheduled service (e.g, airline, transit, train).Various types of links between
points along which movement take place.

*Types of Transportation networks

The network having a common point where loading and unloading takes place for freight
consolidation is called Trans-Shipment points. So most of the transportation happen using the below
methods as the networks. The Different types of networks are being used in transporting the goods
from point of production to the point of consumption

determining shortest
possible routes based on Transit
time, Distance, and Cost.
determining shortest
possible routes based on Transit
time, Distance, and Cost.
6.
Pipeline
- pipelines are the
significant part of
the united states
transportation
system

6.
Pipeline
- pipelines are the significant
part of the united states
transportation
system. In addition to petroleum,
the other imported product
transported through
pipeline is natural gas. The
pipelines
are also utilised for transporting
chemicals,
pulverised dry bulk materials,
sewage and water within cities.
7. Inter-modal – The Intermodal
transportation is the use of more
than one mode
of transport to move shipment
to its destination. A variety of
intermodal
combinations is possible; 1) rail-
truck, 2) Rail-water, 3) Rail-
pipeline,4) Truck-air,
5) Truck-water.
6.
Pipeline
- pipelines are the significant
part of the united states
transportation
system. In addition to petroleum,
the other imported product
transported through
pipeline is natural gas. The
pipelines
are also utilised for transporting
chemicals,
pulverised dry bulk materials,
sewage and water within cities.
7. Inter-modal – The Intermodal
transportation is the use of more
than one mode
of transport to move shipment
to its destination. A variety of
intermodal
combinations is possible; 1) rail-
truck, 2) Rail-water, 3) Rail-
pipeline,4) Truck-air,
5) Truck-water.
6.
Pipeline
- pipelines are the significant
part of the united states
transportation
system. In addition to petroleum,
the other imported product
transported through
pipeline is natural gas. The
pipelines
are also utilised for transporting
chemicals,
pulverised dry bulk materials,
sewage and water within cities.
7. Inter-modal – The Intermodal
transportation is the use of more
than one mode
of transport to move shipment
to its destination. A variety of
intermodal
combinations is possible; 1) rail-
truck, 2) Rail-water, 3) Rail-
pipeline,4) Truck-air,
5) Truck-water.
6.
Pipeline
- pipelines are the significant
part of the united states
transportation
system. In addition to petroleum,
the other imported product
transported through
pipeline is natural gas. The
pipelines
are also utilised for transporting
chemicals,
pulverised dry bulk materials,
sewage and water within cities.
7. Inter-modal – The Intermodal
transportation is the use of more
than one mode
of transport to move shipment
to its destination. A variety of
intermodal
combinations is possible; 1) rail-
truck, 2) Rail-water, 3) Rail-
pipeline,4) Truck-air,
5) Truck-water.