1 Name the different modes of transportation 2 Describe the

1) Name the different modes of transportation.

2) Describe the types of the goods that travel by mode and give examples.

3) Domestically, what percentages of the total national transportation bill does each mode account for?

4) Identify at least three \"sub-industries\" in the motor carrier industry.

5) Identify the largest product groups that move primarily by Rail.

6) Describe, compare and contrast service characteristics of the motor carrier industry to the rail industry.

7) Describe, compare and contrast costs/prices in the five modes of transportation.

8) Describe how low value goods such as grain would travel domestically over land (first few miles, primary movement, last few miles of trip).

9) Describe multimodal transportation.

10) Report on the profitability of transportation companies across the different modes. Is the transportation sector highly profitable?

11) What is the size of the US annual transportation bill? How much of this bill is accounted for by the motor carrier industry?

12) How much domestic freight travels by rail when measured by ton-miles?

Solution

1). Different modes of Transportation is Land transport, water transport and air transport.

2). Water Transport - is used for bulk commodities and heavy shipments. For example - machinery, coal, iron, oil, fertilizer etc.

Air Transport - fastest and take shorter transit time hence is used for perishable goods such as vegitables and flowers.

Land Transport - Most accessable and relatively fast. Used for transport of most common in reasonable quantities for example, animals, agricultural produce, petroleum products etc.

3).Motor transport accounts for the majority of around 87% and rail transport around 1%

Air transport accounts for about 11%

Water transport accounts for less than 1%

4).\"sub-industries\" in the motor carrier industry are Truckload ,  Less than truckload carriage and Liquid carriage.

6). Service chaacterstics of motor carrier is accessibility, reliability, speed, frequency and lower loss and damage rate which gives the advantage to motor carrier over other modes.

Most important element of motor carrier industry is labor cost which tends to be more than other mode.

In contrast to rail industry, motor carriers having limited economies of scale.

7). Statement of comparison