The market of transportation and forwarding Flashcards
What are the traditional functions of Freight forwarders?
- The freight forwarder act as a carrier with own assets
- Acts as warehouse keeper with selfowned or rented storing space
- The freight forwarder is doing the Handling of Goods in Distribution
- Acts as a forwarding agent in goods consolidation
- Acts as a Multimodal transport Operator
What are logistics functions of Freight forwarder?
- Taking deliveries with Inventory Management Systems
- Take over of picking, packaging and labeling activities
- Special services for retail chains or pharmaceuticals
- Shelf maintenance for Reciever, Returns management, Empties Management, Debt Collection e.g. Cash on delivery
What are the main weight classes in Road transportation?
- CEP = 0-31.5kg (B2C), 0-70kg(B2B) - integrators ( International shipments e.g Fedex, DHL, UPS etc
- General cargo = 50-2500kg
- LTL = 1500-8500kg
- FTL = 8500-25000kg
Mention 3 general characteristics of the Business in freight forwarding
- Means of Transport and Freight terminals are Fixed-Costs intensive
- Freight forwarding activities are based on different characteristics than conventional production; Uno-Actu principle, the third factor, services are non-tangible
- Economical transports need a high level of capacity usage with less empty runs, that means the need for a high parity of freight flows
Please explain the Timocom concept, spot market and why is it important?
Timocom is a software provider of an internet-based platform, supporting the information exchange between buyers (shippers) and sellers of freights (carriers) or transport capacity.
Spot market; is the market of short term transport demands for a specific region
Timocom Transport barometer is beneficial in tackling the high fixed costs and seasonality of most goods
What are the reasons why transport by truck is the most preferred transport mode?
- Drivers labour is cheaper; because of a lower market entry barrier
- Possibility to realize door-to-door service with low handling touch. Direct transport from source to sink
- Less equipment needed for loading and unloading
- It offers shorter lead times; one-day delivery
- Drivers qualification is lower compared to train drivers
- Moderate fuel consumption
What are the reasons why rail transport is more competitive than road transport
- The train can use its full capacity- bulkabiliity
- Low transhipment/handling costs
- Economy of distance - one way is larger than 600km
What are the essential features of a transportation system for Goods transport?
- Speed: the faster the method of transport, the more expensive the transport costs.
- Cost: transportation system should be cost efficient- value to weight ratio
- Economy of scale: transportation costs per unit of weight decreases when the size of the shipment increases
- Economy of distance: transports costs per unit of distance decreases as distances increases. The longer the distances, the lower the transport costs
- Bulkability: transportation system should be scalable in its volume i.e. from single to bulk transport without additional fixed costs
- Network forming capability: offer Door-to-Door service especially for sensitive goods in handling
- Reliability: it should be reliable and predictable
- Convenience: the easier the booking process, the better the service. A transportation system should offer convenient procedures in administrative and physical handling, the
shipment of objects (e.g booking, loading/unloading etc)
Why do you think Germany has developed such a strong position in the global market of logistics service providers?
- Geographical central location - major transhipment point - HUB of Europe
- Demand for logistics providers due to the presence of many large industries
- Technical know-how; logistics is studied as a course in Germany
- Good infrastructure
