Question

Freight transport is much more than the movement of goods; passing from seller to buyer along the commerce trail. Reflect and provide a more comprehensive explanation of what freight transport is.

Answer 1

Freight transportation is the lifeline of supply chain management processes and backbone of any trade that depends on physical movement of goods. The freight transport plays an active role in an economy be enabling the transfer of physical goods from one stage of supply chain to the other ( for example from producer to the manufacturer to distributor to wholesaler to retailer and finally to the end consumer) and enables the trade activities that start from the production of raw material to consumption by final consumer. The different stages of freight transportation which involves carrying different forms of products from one point to the other, facilitate different activities of trade. The medium involving freight transportation include transport of goods by road ( trucks, trailers and small vehicles), by sea ( commercial vessels), by air ( cargo air carriers) and railroads. The choice of medium depends on a number of factors like form, value and nature of commodity, urgency of transport vs. cost of transportation, among others.

Besides providing a medium for successful conduction of trade, freight transport is known to create jobs and livelihood through different players involved in industry, thereby leading to socio economic development.