All shippers should know some basic features of all ways of transportation and distinguish main advantages and disadvantages regarding delivery terms. Table 1 represents general characteristics of all types of cargo delivery regarding major parameters.
Table 1. Key characteristics of cargo delivery by different means of transport
Characteristics | Transport means: |
Road | Railway | Air |
Delivery (transit) time | Average | Low | High |
Delivery price | Average | Low | High |
Cargo Safety | High | Low | Average |
Flexibility (chance to deliver different kinds of cargos) | High | Average | Low |
Dependence on weather conditions | Average | Low | High |
It's obvious that the quickest delivery speed is provided by air transport, which is, on the other hand, the most expensive among others. Transportation costs are always included into ultimate price of any product so airfreight of some non-expensive goods (as a rule with a price under 50 USD per 1 kg) is not efficient and makes these goods non-competitive.
High prices for airfreight are usually justified in delivery cases of small consignments of expensive goods or urgent deliveries. For example, if it is necessary to deliver spare parts to the factory to repair broken conveyor system, the price of delivery is comparatively low in comparison to the price of idle time. Besides high costs air transport has some other significant disadvantages. It requires strict restrictions on cargo weight and overall dimensions, which are connected with dimensions of an aircraft cargo section. Standard dimensions do not exceed 100x50x50 cm and weight of 80 kg, but it is possible to deliver heavier and larger consignments of cargo — this delivery should be negotiated between the consignor and carrier. The agreement will depend on the aircraft type used to deliver the cargo.
Air transport is the only transport so much influenced by weather conditions. If these conditions are unfavourable, the speed of delivery by air can be compared to the slowest kind of transport possible. Besides, a number of really harmless cargos, being delivered by air, can be classified as hazardous and require special declaration for such kind of cargos, and as a result additional fees. Such kinds of cargos include alcohol-containing perfume products, highly inflammable sprays, car shock-absorbers, etc.
The efficiency of air transport usage depends greatly on the delivery distance. Cargo handling at the airport should be taken into account as it needs a lot of time, so for example delivery by air over 1000 km can take much more time than by road, and over 1500-2000 km — almost the same amount of time. Road transport looks like most flexible and suitable for delivery of different cargos; experience also shows that this one is also the safest. The only restriction concerns the dimensions (height, length and width) of car cargo body. For example, standard tent semi-trailer most often used for international transportation has dimension limits of 13 x 2.4 x 2.4 m.
Such problems as damage to cargo, thefts or loss of freight are almost impossible when delivery is carried out by road in comparison to air delivery as in the latter case cargo goes through a great number of handling operations and parts of a big chain process (like different airports of departure and arrival, different airline companies, etc). The only restriction of road transport is the territory it can cover because not all places offer available roads for trucks to go. Besides costs of road delivery over distances that are farther than 3000 km exceed the costs of delivery by railway. To some remote destinations cargo is usually delivered by railway or by air.
Unlike road transport, rail transport can't be used for some categories of cargo. Rail transportation is not recommended for fragile goods as well as cargos that can lose their consumer characteristics because of jolty transportation. Restrictions on weight and dimensions of cargo delivered by rail are not as strict as those on cargo delivered by air, but they are much stricter than those on cargo delivered by road because these restrictions depend on the configuration of rail car doorway.
Table 2 covers some recommendations to you how to choose the most suitable kind of transport depending on consignment weight and transportation distance.
| Consignment weight, kg |
Transportation Distance, km | Up to 50 | 50-100 | 100-500 | 500-1500 |
Up to 500 km | Road | Road | Road | Road |
500-1500 km | Road, air | Road, air | Road | Road |
1500-3500 km | Road | Road, air | Road, rail | Road, rail |
More than 3600 | Road | Air, rail | Rail | Rail |
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