Logistics, Trade Administration and Supply Chain

Air transportation is being considered by increasing numbers of shippers for regular service, even though air freight rates exceed those of trucking by more than two times and those of rail by more than 16 times. The appeal for air transportation is its unmatched origin to destination speed, especially over long distances. Air service dependability and availability can be rated as good under normal operating conditions. Delivery time variability is low in absolute magnitude, even though air service is quite sensitive to mechanical breakdown, whether conditions and traffic congestions. Variability when compare with average delivery times, can rank air as one of the least reliable modes. The capability of air has been greatly constrained by the physical dimensions of the cargo space in the aircraft and the aircraft's lifting capacity. This is becoming less of a constraint, however, as larger aircraft are put into service. For example, jumbo airplanes such as Boeing 747 and L...

The transportation user has a wide range of services at his or her disposal that revolve around the five basic modes: water, rail, truck, air and pipeline. A transport service is a set of performance characteristics purchased at a given price and the variety of transport service is almost limitless. The five modes may be used in combination e.g. piggyback or container movement; transportation agencies, shippers' association and brokers may be used to facilitate these services; small shipment carriers like, UPS or FEDEX may be used for their efficiency in handling small packages or a single transportation mode may be used exclusively. From among these service choices, the user selects a service or combination of services that provides the best balance between the quality of service offered and the cost of that service. The task of service-choice selection is not as forbidding as it first appears because circumstances surrounding a particular shipping situation often reduce the c...