1. Topic 9 – Transportation and Communications
A – Transport Networks and Costs
B – Transport Systems
Source: Frederick P. Stutz and Barney Warf (2012) The World Economy: Resources, Location, Trade, and Development, 6th Edition. Prentice Hall, Saddle River, NJ.

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Citation
Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue, Dept. of Global Studies & Geography, Hofstra University.

3. A – Transport Networks and Costs
The Function of Transportation
Transportation Networks
Transportation Costs

4. 1. Transportation as a Derived Demand
Activity
Working
Vacationing
Manufacturing
Direct
Commuting
Taxi
Air travel
Touring bus
Trucks
Containership
Warehousing
Indirect
Energy
Derived Demand

5. 1. Core Components of Transportation
Modes
Conveyances (vehicles) used to move passengers or freight.
Mobile elements of transportation.
Infrastructures
Physical support of transport modes, such as routes and terminals.
Fixed elements of transportation.
Networks
System of linked locations (nodes).
Functional and spatial organization of transportation.
Flows
Movements of people, freight and information over their network.
Flows have origins, intermediary locations and destinations.

6. 1. Operational Differences between Passengers and Freight Transportation
Board, get off and transfer without assistance.
Process information and act on it without assistance.
Make choices between transport modes without assistance but often irrationally.
Require travel accommodations related to comfort and safety.
Must be loaded, unloaded and transferred.
Information must be processed through logistics managers.
Logistics managers meet choices between transport modes rationally.
Require limited travel accommodations.
Passengers
Freight
Source: adapted from EU-funded Urban Transport Research Project Results,

7. 2. Centrifugal and Centripetal Networks

8. 3. Distance, Modal Choice and Transport Costs
Road C3
Transport costs per unit
Rail
Maritime D1 D2
Distance

9. 3. Freight Transport Costs in Dollars per Ton-Mile
Source: Ronald Ballou (1998) “Business Logistics Management”, 4th Edition, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

10. Average Haul Length, Domestic Freight in the United States, 1960-2003 (in miles)
Source: BTS. Table 1-35: Average Length of Haul, Domestic Freight and Passenger Modes.

11. Typical Ocean Freight Costs for some Products (Asia – United States or Asia – Europe)
Typical Shelf Price
Shipping Costs
Shipping Costs Share
LCD TV Set
$700
$4.00
0.5%
Digital Camera (high range)
$450
$0.15
0.03%
Vacuum Cleaner
$150
$1.00
0.6%
Scotch Whisky (bottle)
$50
0.3%
Coffee (1 kg)
$15
3.3%
Biscuits (Tin) $3
$0.05
1.7%
Beer (Can) $1
$0.01
1.0%
Apple
$0.75
$0.04
5.3%
Source: ISL Shipping Statistics Yearbook 2003.

12. Household Expenditures on Transport, United States, 2005
Source: BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Available at:

13. B – Transport Systems Passenger and Freight Options Transport Modes
Telecommunications

14. 1. Main Passenger Modal Options
Air
Road
Rail
Maritime
Scheduled
Car
Intercity
Ferry
Charter
Taxi
HSR
RoRo
High Speed
Van/Bus
Transit
Cruise
Motorcycle
Subway
Commuter
Bicycle
LRT
Walking
Monorail

15. 1. Main Freight Modal Options
Air
Truck
Rail
Maritime
Inland / Coastal
Pipeline
Package
Package
Unit Train
Break-bulk
River/sea
Pipeline
Freighter
Oil
Less than Truckload (LTL)
Carload
Liquid Bulk
Tow
Bellyhold
Gas
Truckload (TL)
Boxcar
RoRo
Tank barge
Water
Heavy
Tank Car
Deck barge
Dry Van
Dry Bulk
Flat Car
Hopper barge
Tank
Reefer
Container
Source: adapted from W.J. DeWitt. Freight Transport & Modes in Global Logistics & Supply Chains.
Flatbed
Container
Hopper
Curtainside
Gondola
Reefer
ISO Container
Hopper
Intermodal
Reefer
Open Top
Flatrack
TOFC
Chassis
Domestic
Tank

16. 2. World Road Network

17. Length of the Interstate Highway System and of the Chinese Expressway System, 1959-2012 (in km)
Includes Puerto Rico
Source: Federal Highway Administration.
National Bureau of Statistics of China,

18. 2. World Rail Network and Rail Systems

19. Rail Track Mileage and Number of Class I Rail Carriers, United States, 1830-2008
Source: BTS and Association of American Railroads. J.L. Ringwalt (1888) Development of Transportation Systems in the United States, Philadelphia: Railway World, Rand McNally (1898) Miles of railroads in the United States, , Interstate Commerce Commission, Statistics of Railways in the United States. BTS and Association of American Railroads.
Note: Data represent miles of road owned (aggregate length of road, excluding yard tracks, sidings, and parallel lines).

20. 2. Domains of Maritime Circulation
Source: Shipping density data adapted from National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, A Global Map of Human Impacts to Marine Ecosystems.

21. 2. Evolution of Containerships
(LOA – Beam – Draft) 6
6 containers across
4 containers high on deck A
Early Containerships (1956-) 4 A
137x17x9
500 – 800 TEU 8 4
200x20x9 10
Fully Cellular (1970-) 5
215x20x10 4
4 containers high below deck
1,000 – 2,500 TEU 13 B 6
Panamax (1980-) B
250x32x12.5 5
3,000 – 3,400 TEU 13
Panamax Max (1985-) 8
290x32x12.5
3,400 – 4,500 TEU 6 15 C 9
Post Panamax (1988-) C
285x40x13 5
4,000 – 5,000 TEU 17
Post Panamax Plus (2000-) 9
Source: Ashar and Rodrigue, All dimensions are in meters.
6,000 – 8,000 TEU
300x43x14.5 6 D
New Panamax (2014-) 20 D
12,500 TEU 10
366x49x15.2 6 E
Post New Panamax (2006-)
397x56x15.5 ; 22–10–8 (not shown) E
15,000 TEU 23 10
Triple E (2013-)
18,000 TEU
400x59x15.5 8

22. World Air Travel and World Air Freight Carried, 1950-2011
Source: Airlines for America.

23. 2. World’s Major Container Ports, 2010

24. 2. Passenger Traffic at the World’s Largest Airports, 2010
Source: Airport Council International,

25. 2. Latitudinal Intermediacy: COPA Airlines
Source: Network from COPA Airlines Web Site.

26. 2. Freight Traffic at the World’s Largest Airports, 2010
Source: Airport Council International,

27. 3. Global Submarine Cable Network
Source: Dataset encoded by Greg Mahlknecht,