Air, Land or Sea?
One of the most basic levels to think about transportation is in regards to cost. Sea freight is known as the most inexpensive form purely for the sheer amount of goods that can be held. In comparison road transportation can’t deliver in such high quantity and as such would require more deliveries.
Sea and airfreight rely on large numbers of staff, people are needed to pack and load the goods. However it only takes on person to drive a lorry. How is the number of staff affecting the cost? Wages need to be paid, so the more workers the higher the cost. The costs of the three transportation methods will also fluctuate due to changes in oil price.
A great saying in retail is ‘time is money’. London Fashion Week has just been and gone and many trends have become apparent. Retailers need to be able to act fast in order to deliver these trends as quickly as possible, not in six months time when the designs have been pondered over, produced and shipped via boat. This is when airfreight comes into play, yes it may be slightly more expensive but it helps us boost sales with trend driven fashion, it only takes two days from airport to airport deducting 25* days from the process. Currently it takes around 28* for garments to reach England from China via boat. Development is being done to reduce travel time to 8 days.
Travelling via road works extremely well when you’re taking goods from one place to another within a country, it is quick and can take you all the way to specific destinations.
T
he three main methods of transport to get goods from the manufacturer to the consumer are Sea, Air and Road.
It only involves a small number of people and the costs for fuel is relatively low.
Annoyingly for all retailers there are external factors that effect the distribution channel which they have no control over, weather being one. It can completely slow down or bring transportation to a halt. Neither sea, boat nor air are immune to the effects.
Road transportation is the only one of these three methods that requires only one form of transport; the other two actually rely on the roads to get the goods to the end destination. The only limit is there needs to be a road to drive on in order to deliver goods.
In today’s society effects on the environment are so important and consumers are becoming even more concerned about retailers environmental actions. By far shipping FOB is the worst for the environment as it gives out the most CO2 emissions.
All in all I do not think there is a clear ‘winner’, they all have their advantages and disadvantages and are all extremely different, it just depends what and when you need something. I would have to say that in regards to environment, cost and men needed truck transportation stands out to me. It is a reliable form of transport that can easily be fixed if issues occur.
*Figures given from a member of Next PLC overseas.