Sunday 16 June 2019

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Using Boat Transport

By Thomas White


Businesses have built history in the transportation of goods since the existence of domestic or international trades. When it comes to boat transport, countries bounded by water bodies have utilized this method of transportation, and it has remained the most common way of shipping items. This has enhanced the businesses around the cities near these water bodies. Irrespective of the growing ground and air transportation, shipping by boats plays vital roles in the domestic and international trade. The following are some of the benefits and downsides of using ships for transportation.

This is an efficient mode of shipping based on its ability to transport all kinds and sizes of goods. Air and ground transportation have limited options on the type or size of items they can ship. However, the ships are versatile since they transport a variety of goods in different sizes. For instance, it is easier to carry cars, trucks, agricultural or industrial equipment with boats than it is with road transportation.

This channel of shipping goods is inexpensive, considering that the vessels have low operation and maintenance costs regardless of the destination or origin of the items. The low cost has also been facilitated by the additional ports coming up lately. The overall expense of boat transportation is way more economical than the cost of using ground or air.

Vehicles or airplanes burn a lot of fuel. This fuel is harmful to the environment based on the number of toxic gases being emitted to the air. Fortunately, the availability of the boats has brought an eco-friendly mode of shipping items. This is because these vessels need less fuel. This, in turn, releases fewer greenhouse gases to the surroundings. Thus, the channel is environmentally friendly, therefore, the most suitable one.

Rivers, seas, and lakes are natural gifts that do not require further modifications to facilitate ships. This means that there will be no additional costs for constructing waterways. However, this is a different case with ground transportation. Extra expenses are required to build roads or railways for the trains and trucks. Hence, boat transportation is efficient since no new infrastructure is necessary.

Transportation, by other means like air, can be interrupted by weather conditions. The arrival or departure of an aircraft can be delayed until the weather changes. However, the reliability, resistance, and robustness of ships make them the best. They are easy to handle even in unstable or complicated environments as long as it is within a reasonable limit.

This mean of shipping has its drawbacks. For example, transporting with boats can take a considerably long period considering that ships do not move at high speed. Therefore, items take a long time before reaching their destination. As such, it makes this method unsuitable to shipping perishable commodities since they can spoil before they reach the destination.

Logistical problems can also emerge if the destination port does not receive cargo shops. This is because ports must have specific structures used to load and offload particular kinds of items. If a port does not have the structures, a ship has to divert to a port that will receive it. This makes the transportation indirect since the cargo has to be later transported from the port to the destination.




About the Author:



0 comments:

Post a Comment