Freight Transportation & Distribution: Difference & Importance

Freight transportation is an integral part of the supply chain and the logistics system. However, the cost of moving commodities between different cities and countries is not always borne by the direct stakeholders but also the members of the society who might not be benefitting from it. It is commonly referred to as the external cost of an activity.

Also, air, noise, and water pollution are some of the negative impacts of freight transportation.

What Is Freight Transportation?

Freight means a cost of charge paid for carriage or transportation of goods utilizing air, land, or Sea. Transportation is the movement of goods from one location to another. Freight transportation is the paid movement of moving merchandise, goods, or cargo products from one place to another through the use of a vehicle.

Types Of Freight Transportation

• Road
• Air
• Rail
• Ocean

There are majorly four major types of freight transportation that can be utilized depending on the type of goods that need to be transported. This largely depends on the size of the goods, the shipment location, and the time of delivery when the goods need to reach their destination.

Road Transport:

It is a type of freight transportation that uses the means of a vehicle or a truck. The delivery is usually at places that are easily accessible by road.

Rail Transport:

This is very similar to road transport as in rail transport also we transport goods from one place to another by land. The only difference is that road transport has an extensive route network whereas rail transport only caters to specific routes.

Ocean Transport:

This transportation method involves seas, oceans, or other bodies of water as paths for shipping goods and merchandise.

Air Transport:

This mode of transportation is the most time-efficient transportation for transporting goods.

Difference Between Transportation & Distribution

Shipping and delivering goods are both very important elements of distribution and transportation.

As we have already discussed above, transportation is the movement of things from one place to another. Distribution is the system by which products are categorized, transported, and distributed to their destination. It is the overall process that will showcase how the product reached from the first mile to the last mile.

Transportation is part of the distribution process- it is the movement of products but does not involve strategizing how to move the products through a channel which is the concern of distribution.

Transportation only focuses on taking goods from the place of origin to the destination to the receiver.

Distribution is a systematic process of picking up the goods and categorizing them based on the location of their destination, it includes the packaging, storage, order fulfillment, and customer handling relations. Transportation determines the efficacy of moving products, while distribution is the overall inventory, warehousing, supply chain, and logistics. Distribution is like the sorting process of the goods and services.

Advantages Of Freight Transportation

Door-to-Door Service

Usually, products are sent to warehouses from the nearest locations and are then delivered to the end customers. In this goods will be delivered to the doorstep of the receiver. In this, the chances of the product getting damaged are minimized.

Cost-Effective

The goods are transported in large quantities and hence that makes the cost of delivery extremely low. This is very helpful for new companies who don’t want their shipping cost to be affordable.

On-Time Deliveries

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