Anthony Barone

International Air Transportation

This chapter deals with air transportation, and it emphasizes movements of cargo, rather than passengers. However, it is difficult to separate the two because the majority of freight moves on aircraft that carry passengers also. A very small percentage of the world’s commercial airline aircraft carry cargo exclusively. Airlines that carry both passengers and cargo give higher priority to the movement of passengers; flights are scheduled to capture passenger markets.

Logistics of Famine Relief

This chapter contains a discussion of the logistical aspects of famine relief efforts, where first- and third-world logistics—as discussed in Chapter 3—meet. This presents a situation where nations with advanced logistics techniques operate in areas at the other end of the spectrum, to the extent that they have almost no logistics infrastructure in place. Famine relief efforts provide a view of public-sector, or not-for-profit, international logistics efforts, where monetary profit may not be the motivating factor.

Ocean Ships and Shipping

This is the first of three chapters that deal with ocean shipping. This chapter deals with the various types of ships that are in use by both shippers who own them and firms that own them for others to use. Chapter 5 deals with bulk carriers and charter arrangements that are used when a shipper has sufficient cargo that it can think in terms of utilizing an entire vessel. Chapter 6 deals with movements of smaller quantities, usually more valuable per unit of weight, that move on regularly scheduled liner vessels.

Future Issues in International Logistics

This chapter is brief. Rather than summarizing what has been written so far, it will attempt to look forward into the first part of the 21st century and suggest what logistical “happenings” may occur. The political balances in the world have changed. In the first part of the 20th century, tensions between western European powers were the focus of the world’s attention. After World War II, the cold war, which lasted until about 1990, involved two superpowers whose conflicts were fought on the lands of other nations. During much of the 20th century, international tensions were great.

International Logistics Functions and Intermediaries

There are no airtight definitions of logistics or logistics systems. One European author indicated three types of systems, defined in terms of their scope. One was limited to the distribution of finished products and called “commercial logistics”; one integrated inbound and outbound activities and was called “productive/distribution logistics”; and the last encompassed total support over the entire life of a project or piece of equipment and was called “integrated logistics support.”1 As used in this book, logistics is the organized movement of materials and, sometimes, people. Logistics includes movement of whatever information is needed to sustain its own operations. Logistics implies that a number of separate activities are undertaken and are coordinated.

Seaports, Airports, Canals, and Tunnels

The transportation modal choice for many cross-border shipments comes down to a decision between air and water transportation. This chapter will investigate some of the major man-made links and nodes which facilitate international water and air transportation. Specifically, this chapter discusses seaports and airports (nodes), as well as canals and tunnels (links). Seaports and airports act as transfer points for cargo and passengers from ocean vessels or airplanes. Canals serve to connect bodies of water separated by land, whereas tunnels and bridges link land bodies divided by mountains or water.

Terms of Sale and Terms of Payment

The logistics manager should be concerned with the terms of sale involved in both selling and buying materials. In international transactions, the terms of sale govern the movement of the product, and if the logistics manager plays a passive role, he or she will have to accept logistics decisions made by others. Many of these decisions have an impact on costs and on service. Also, in every international transaction, there is a point in both time and geography where and when title to the goods changes, responsibility for insurance and caring for the shipment (say, of livestock) changes, responsibility for paying and arranging for transportation changes, and payment for the goods takes place.

Land Transport to and from Ports, and to and from Canada and Mexico

The first and last stages of import and export movements involve the transportation of the goods between inland points and ports of import or export. For bulk products, the loading/unloading facility may be located at water’s edge in a port. However, for most shipments, arrangements must be made to haul the goods to or from port, usually be truck or by rail. More recently, intermodal transportation has become more important for international movements. Although intermodal can mean any two modes, for international movements one tends to think of containers transferred between ship and rail, and moved by truck between the railroad’s intermodal ramp and the shipper or consignee. Nearly all air cargo movements are intermodal in the sense that truck and air are the two modes involved.1

The Ocean Liner Conference System

Previous chapters have dealt with different types of vessels and with chartering bulk ocean carriers. This chapter deals with those vessels that operate on a scheduled basis, between major ports, and carry assortments of relatively high-value cargoes tendered by a multitude of shippers. Usually the products are manufactured or processed, and they move by number or count. These cargoes are sometimes called break-bulk or general cargo. Traditionally, they were handled and stowed on a piece-by-piece basis by stevedores.

Logistics and Transportation in Different Parts of the World

In developed nations, business enjoys some of the best logistics and transportation systems and infrastructure available. Managers take for granted such standards as a high-capacity national highway system, advanced fiber-optic communications capabilities, seamless multimodal transportation, high-density air traffic control, and a cadre of qualified, experienced logistics professionals and service agencies. What is experienced as the norm of logistics practice in the developed areas is often only an aspirational goal of logisticians in most other countries.