ADVANTAGES OF WATER

TRANSPORTATION
 1. IT INVOLVES A LOW RUNNING COST WHICH MAKES
IT THE CHEAPEST FORM OF TRANSPORT SYSTEM OVER
LONG DISTANCES
• Rivers are a natural highway which does not require any cost of construction
and maintenance. Even the cost of construction and maintenance of canals is
much less or they are used, not only for transport purposes but also for
irrigation, etc. Moreover, the cost of operation of the inland water transport is
very low. Thus, it is the cheapest mode of transport for carrying goods from
one place to another.
2. LARGE VESSEL ESPECIALLY RUN ECONOMICALLY
SINCE FUEL COSTS CAN BE SPREAD OVER GREATER
QUANTITIES. DISTANCE DOES NOT ADD GREATLY TO
TOTAL TRANSPORT COST.
• Transport Systems face requirements to increase their capacity and to reduce the
costs of mobility. All users (e.g. individuals, corporations, institutions, governments,
etc.) must negotiate or bid for the mobility of passengers and freight because
supplies, distribution systems, tariffs, salaries, locations, marketing techniques as well
as fuel costs are constantly changing. There are also costs involved in gathering
information, negotiating, and enforcing contracts and transactions, often referred to
as the cost of doing business. Trade also involves transaction costs that all agents
attempt to reduce since transaction costs account for a growing share of the resources
consumed by the economy.
 3.THE CAPACITY OF CONVEYING HEAVY AND BULKY
CARGOES
What is Bulk Cargo?
Bulk cargo is a shipping term for items that are shipped loosely and unpackaged as opposed to
being shipped in packages or containers. The construction industry uses bulk cargo shipping
when moving dirt, rocks, and other compounds needed for filling large chunks of land. The
farming industry frequently uses bulk cargo shipping for large shipments of livestock feed or
seeds. The mining industry will ship metal chunks, iron ore, and charcoal as the materials are
collected. Chemical engineering industries or energy plants will frequently ship liquid nitrogen
gas or petroleum and other related liquids. In shipping, a bulk cargo is any good shipped
unpackaged, not inside pallets or boxes, and in large quantities. The commodities can either be
in liquid, granular, or solid form. Generally, bulk cargo comprises of the goods we need for our
day to day use.
THREE TYPES OF BULK CARGOES
• Solid Bulk Cargo
• Solid bulk cargo is any loose, unpackaged, and solid material that is uniform
in composition and loaded directly into the cargo space of a ship. Examples
of solid bulk cargo include sugar, cocoa, coffee, iron ore, fertilizer, cement,
coal, soy, and wheat.
•
• Liquid Bulk Cargo
• Liquid bulk cargo is carried unpackaged in any quantity and usually
transported by ships that are commonly referred to as tankers which are built
specially to make the loading and unloading process become easy.
• Break Bulk Cargo
• Contrary to bulk cargo, break bulk cargo is unitized mostly in form of drums,
crates, pallets or bags. Also, break bulk can be non-unitized, for example
steel or vehicles. Generally, break bulk cargo is used when to refer to cargos
that can be quantified. Break bulk can be used to refer to goods which cannot
fit in the largest container.
 8 MAJOR TYPES OF CARGO TRANSPORTED THROUGH
THE SHIPPING INDUSTRY
• 1. Shipping of Food Stuff
• Foodstuff includes various categories such as fresh, packaged, frozen,
partially processed, and other varieties. Foods present one of the most
challenging goods to transport, due to their short life and high probability of
spoilage.
• 2. Transportation of Livestock and Animals
• Livestock and animals are another commonly transported cargo between
several countries. This may be for the purpose of breeding, for meat, or for
animal bi-products.
• 3. Transportation of LNG, CNG, and Other Gas-Based Fuels
• One of the largest cargoes transported through ships is petroleum goods and
its byproducts, in terms of volume and gross revenue. This includes crude oil,
volatile fuels, petroleum, LNG, CNG, and the various derivatives.
• 4. Shipping Cars and Other Vehicles
• Shipping vehicles is a very common business adopted in and around the
Middle East, Europe, some parts of Asia (China, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Singapore etc.) and the Americas. It generally functions as a ferry
service where cars are moved around the coastlines of a nation or
neighbouring countries.
• 5. Transportation of Machinery, Equipment, and Factory Parts
• Shipping machinery and parts is a very lucrative industry, especially when
parts are moved in large numbers. This is because these goods do not have
specific shipping requirements, can withstand most forms of sea motion on their
own, and do not have the problems generally faced by other types of cargo
(spoilage, volatility etc.).
• 6. Shipping Dry Bulk Cargo
• Dry bulk cargo refers to any cargo or good shipped in a loose quantity, that
is stored within the cargo holds without packaging. Common examples of such
goods include foodstuff and machinery parts (both have been discussed). Also,
goods transported through dry bulk carriers include ores and minerals. These
are generally shipped in a loose condition in the holds.
• 7. Shipping Liquid Bulk Cargo
• Liquid bulk cargo specifically includes goods and cargoes that are liquid in
nature and shipped in bulk. The majority of cargo in this category belongs to
petroleum goods and its byproducts. This encompasses crude oil, various
products obtained after the separation and processing of crude petroleum
etc.
•
•
•
• 8. Safe Transportation of Chemical, Hazardous, and Toxic Products
• A large portion of the worldwide freight industry handles the transportation
of chemicals and various similar products. This takes place due to the
expertise of certain countries in the synthesis of specific chemicals. Demand in
other parts of the globe requires large scale transportation of such cargo.
4.WATER TRANSPORT HAS A NATURAL ROUTE NETWORK THAT IS FREE TO USE. THIS
ALLOWS FLEXIBILITY OF SERVICE, FREQUENCY OF MOVEMENT, AND LITTLE CONGESTION
(EXCEPT WHERE WATER CHANNELS ARE NARROW.

Water transport can be undertaken either along inland rivers and canals or
across oceans. This distinction is pertinent since the two types have different
backgrounds and vary in importance. Rivers, if naturally navigable, have
always been used for transport for many years ago, but only during the last two
hundred years have canals been specially constructed on a large scale
(although both Egypt and China do have canals dating back more than 2000
years). Britain pioneered inland water transport but now has little use for it,
owing amongst other factors to the narrowness and shortness of her canals.
Up to the middle of the last century, ocean transport was almost entirely
dependent upon sailing craft, and journeys were consequently slow and
laborious. Ships too were unsophisticated and could be divided merely into two
groups: warship and merchantmen. Much has changed since then. Coal
powered, subsequently, oil-powered vessels were introduced and ships became
more specialized in function. Apart from liners (for passengers), merchant
shipping now comprises cargo-liners including containers ships, (bulk ore
carriers), tramps, coastal craft, and tankers. Sizes too have increased especially
for oil tankers which today carry as much as 500,000 tones dead weight.
 5.CANALS PROVIDE GOOD ACCESS ALONG THEIR LINE SIDES AND ALSO ENCOURAGE
THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE. SOME TOWNS HAVE GROWN
LARGELY THROUGH THEIR CONNECTION WITH CANALS.

•
Example, is Stour port.
Stourport came into being around the canal basins at the Severn terminus of the
Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, which was completed in 1768. In 1772 the
junction between the Staffordshire and Worcestershire and the Birmingham Canal
was completed and Stourport became one of the principal distributing centres for
goods to and from the rest of the West Midlands. The canal terminus was built on
meadowland to the south west of the hamlet of Lower Mitton. The terminus was first
called Stourmouth and then Newport, with the final name of Stourport settled on by
1771.
•
• The population of Stourport rose from about 12 in the 1760s to 1300 in
1795. In 1771 John Wesley had called Stourport a “well built village” but by
1788 he noted that “where twenty years ago there was but one house; now
there are two or three streets, and as trade increases it will probably grow
into a considerable town”. In 1790 he found the town “twice as large as two
years ago”.
• With the completion of the Worcester and Birmingham Canal in 1816, the
revenue of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal plunged sharply and
from 1812 the population of Stourport scarcely rose, with many male workers
leaving the town.
 6.IT CAUSES RELATIVELY LITTLE ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION, BUT SOMETIMES OIL
DISCHARGE FROM TANKERS SEEMS TO BE THE MAJOR PROBLEM TO THIS MODE OF
TRANSPORTATION.

• Oil pollution can be caused by any spillage of crude oil or its refined
products. However, the largest and most damaging pollution events usually
involve spills of petroleum or heavy bunker fuel from disabled tankers or drill
platforms at sea, from barges or ships on major inland waterways, or from
blowouts of wells or broken pipelines on land.
REFERENCE

https://www-marineinsight-com.cdn.ampproject.org/
https://transportgeography.org/contents/chapter3/transport-costs/
https://www.jotscroll.com/forums/3/posts/197/water-transport-definition-
types-advantages-and-disadvantages.html
https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/geography/transportation/water-
transport-kinds-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-water-transport/42133