Freight transport, also referred to as freight forwarding, is the physical process of

transport Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

ing

commodities In economics, a commodity is an economic good, usually a resource, that specifically has full or substantial fungibility: that is, the market treats instances of the good as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to who produced them. Th ...

and

merchandise Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of Product (business), products ("merch" colloquially) to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative w ...

goods and

cargo In transportation, cargo refers to goods transported by land, water or air, while freight refers to its conveyance. In economics, freight refers to goods transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. The term cargo is also used in cas ...

. The term shipping originally referred to

by sea but in

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lang ...

, it has been extended to refer to transport by land or air (International English: "carriage") as well. "

Logistics Logistics is the part of supply chain management that deals with the efficient forward and reverse flow of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the Consumption (economics), point of consumption according to the ...

", a term borrowed from the military environment, is also used in the same sense.

History

Prehistoric Era

Initial human civilization relied heavily on

domesticated Domestication is a multi-generational mutualistic relationship in which an animal species, such as humans or leafcutter ants, takes over control and care of another species, such as sheep or fungi, to obtain from them a steady supply of reso ...

animals, such as

horses The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 milli ...

, camels, and donkeys, to transport their goods. The invention of the

wheel A wheel is a rotating component (typically circular in shape) that is intended to turn on an axle Bearing (mechanical), bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the Simple machine, six simple machin ...

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

in 5000BC improved this efficiency by allowing for carts and carriages to be created, which animals could pull.

Classical Era

Romans

The Romans built a vast network of roads, which facilitated trade across the numerous cities in its empire.

Silk Road

Transport along the silk road, a land-based route, was generally done through caravans, equipped with camels that would carry goods. It was uncommon for traders to traverse the entirety of the silk road - they would pass on their goods to other traders along different legs of the journey.

Medieval Period

Modern Period

Industrial Revolution

Freight transport in the UK was shaped significantly by the

industrial revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

. The midlands of England saw a sophisticated

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface ...

system, which allowed freight to be transported easily through long distances. Additionally, railway systems were popularized, initially consisting of horse-drawn carts, but switched to steam powered trains later on.

Aviation

After the invention of the plane by the

Wright Brothers The Wright brothers, Orville Wright (August 19, 1871 – January 30, 1948) and Wilbur Wright (April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912), were American aviation List of aviation pioneers, pioneers generally credited with inventing, building, and flyin ...

, the first air freight shipment was delivered in 1910. While the industry and demand for air freight delivery remained low throughout much of the 20th century, the creation of

FedEx FedEx Corporation, originally known as Federal Express Corporation, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate holding company specializing in Package delivery, transportation, e-commerce, and ...

in 1973 revolutionised the industry by introducing specialised

flights, rather than aggregating passenger and cargo flights in one trip.

Autonomous Transportation

Presently, autonomous vehicles have been trialled by many companies as a method of transportation, intending to reduce labour costs. Additionally, robots designed to automate the ' last-mile delivery' stage have also been considered by businesses.

Modes of shipment

Freight goods according to mode of transportation 2010

In 2015, 108 trillion

tonne-kilometer The units of measurement in transportation describes the unit of measurement used to express various transportation quantities, as used in statistics, planning, and their related applications. Transportation quantity The currently popular units ...

s were transported worldwide (anticipated to grow by 3.4% per year until 2050 (128 Trillion in 2020)): 70% by sea, 18% by road, 9% by rail, 2% by

inland waterway A waterway is any navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other ways. A first distinction is necessary bet ...

s and less than 0.25% by air.

Grounds

Land or "ground" shipping can be made by

train A train (from Old French , from Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles th ...

or by

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construct ...

(British English:

lorry A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame constructio ...

). Ground transport is typically more affordable than air, but more expensive than sea, especially in

developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a less-developed Secondary sector of the economy, industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to developed countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. ...

, where inland

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and pri ...

may not be efficient. In air and sea shipments, ground transport is required to take the cargo from its place of origin to the

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

seaport A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manc ...

and then to its destination because it is not always possible to establish a production facility near ports due to the limited coastlines of countries.

Ship

Much freight transport is done by

cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's List of seas, seas and Ocean, oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. ...

s. An individual nation's fleet and the people that crew it are referred to as its merchant navy or merchant marine. According to a 2018 report from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), merchant shipping (or seaborne trade) carries 80-90% of

international trade International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories because there is a need or want of goods or services. (See: World economy.) In most countries, such trade represents a significan ...

and 60-70% by value. On rivers and

barge A barge is typically a flat-bottomed boat, flat-bottomed vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. Original use was on inland waterways, while modern use is on both inland and ocean, marine water environments. The firs ...

s are often used to carry

bulk cargo Bulk cargo is Product (business), product cargo that is transported packaging, unpackaged in large quantities. Description Bulk cargo refers to material in either liquid or granular, particulate (as a mass of relatively small solids) form, ...

Air

Cargo is transported by

air An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...

in specialized cargo aircraft and in the luggage compartments of passenger aircraft. Air freight is typically the fastest mode for long-distance freight transport, but it is also the most expensive.

Space

Multimodal

Cargo is exchanged between different modes of transportation via

transport hub A transport hub is a place where passengers and cargo are exchanged between vehicles and/or between mode of transport, transport modes. Public transport hubs include train station, railway stations, metro station, rapid transit stations, bus ...

s, also known as transport interchanges or Nodes (e.g. train stations, airports, etc.). Cargo is shipped under a single contract but performed using at least two different modes of transport (e.g. ground and air). Cargo may not be containerized.

Intermodal

Multimodal transport featuring containerized cargo (or

intermodal container An intermodal container, often called a shipping container, or a freight container, (or simply "container") is a large metal crate designed and built for intermodal freight transport, meaning these containers can be used across different Mode ...

) that is easily transferred between ship, rail, plane and truck. For example, a shipper works together with both ground and air transportation to ship an item overseas. Intermodal freight transport is used to plan the route and carry out the shipping service from the manufacturer to the door of the recipient.

Terms of shipment

The

Incoterms The Incoterms or International Commercial Terms are a series of pre-defined commercial terms published by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) relating to international commercial law. Incoterms define the responsibilities of exporters and ...

(or International Commercial Terms) published by the

International Chamber of Commerce The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC; French: ''Chambre de commerce internationale'') is the largest, most representative business organization in the world. ICC represents over 45 million businesses in over 170 countries who have interest ...

(ICC) are accepted by governments, legal authorities, and practitioners worldwide for the interpretation of the most commonly used terms in international trade. Common terms include: * Free on Board (FOB) * Cost and Freight (CFR, C&F, CNF) * Cost, Insurance and Freight (CIF) The term "best way" generally implies that the shipper will choose the carrier that offers the lowest rate (to the shipper) for the shipment. In some cases, however, other factors, such as better insurance or faster transit time, will cause the shipper to choose an option other than the lowest bidder.

Door-to-door shipping

Door-to-door (DTD or D2D) shipping refers to the domestic or international shipment of cargo from the point of origin (POI) to the destination while generally remaining on the same piece of equipment and avoiding multiple transactions, trans-loading, and cross-docking without interim storage. International DTD is a service provided by many international shipping companies and may feature

intermodal freight transport Intermodal freight transport involves the transportation of freight in an intermodal container or vehicle, using multiple modes of transportation (e.g., rail, ship, aircraft, and truck), without any handling of the freight itself when changing ...

using containerized cargo. The quoted price of this service includes all shipping, handling, import and customs duties, making it a hassle-free option for customers to import goods from one

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' and 'speech' or 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, the concept of jurisdiction applies at multiple level ...

to another. This is compared to standard shipping, the price of which typically includes only the expenses incurred by the shipping company in transferring the object from one place to another.

Customs Customs is an authority or Government agency, agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling International trade, the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out ...

fees, import taxes and other tariffs may contribute substantially to this base price before the item ever arrives.

References

Citations

* *

External links

* Schreiber, Zv
2016: The Year Freight Goes Online
December 2015 * Bloomberg.co
First Cryptocurrency Freight Deal Takes Russian Wheat to Turkey
January 2018 {{Authority control Economic globalization Merchant navy