TRANSPORT AND TRADE

TOPIC AND CONCEPTS OBJECTIVES

Modes of transport.
-Traditional forms of transport.
-Modern means of transport.
Transport network systems.
Zimbabwe, Africa and the world.
-Changes in modes of transport.
Transport challenges and solutions.
-Traffic congestion.
-Pollution.
Transport Indices.
Trade
-Domestic and foreign trade.
Characteristics of domestic and foreign world.
trade.
Regional imbalances in trade.
-Imbalances within a country.
-Describe the term transport.
-Identify the modes of transport.
-Describe the advantages and disadvantage of each mode.
-Describe the different network systems in Zimbabwe,
Africa and the world.
-Explain the changes in different modes of transport.
-Describe transport challenges and suggest solutions.
-Draw transport networks, calculate and interpret
transport indices
-Describe the terms trade, domestic and foreign trade.
-Describe the trade patterns in Zimbabwe, Africa and the
-Differentiate domestic from foreign trade.
-Outline the characteristics of domestic and foreign trade.
-Demonstrate how trading patterns may create
imbalances in a nation and across nations.

-Imbalances between nations.

Economic groupings.
-Southern African Development -Name the economic groupings.
Community (SADC)
-Common Market for East & Southern
Africa. (COMESA) -Discuss the aims and the objectives of the economic
-Economic Community of West and groupings.
Southern African countries
(ECOWAS)
-Organisation of Petroleum Exporting -List the responsibilities of SADC.
countries. (OPEC)
-European Union. (EU)
-State the problems faced by SADC.

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TRANSPORT.
Definition of key terms.
Transport – It refers to the means by which people and goods are moved from one place to
another.
-It results from different situations such as the economic factor of demand and supply.
-It is necessitated by the physical factor called distance.
Distance-It refers to the space between two points.
-Distance can be long or short.
Transport route-It refers to the path that is followed by any means of transport.
Transport route could be straight or winding.
Factors that affect the choice of transport mode.
-The type of goods.
-The quantity of goods.
-The quality of goods.
-The volume of goods.
-The number of people.
-The distance covered.
Modes of transport.
-These are also referred to as types of transport and can be divided into traditional and modern
means of transport.
A. Traditional means of transport.
-These are the means of transport that have been used from long ago.
-They include human beings, horses, donkeys, camels, elephants, carts, sledges, canoes and
rickshaws.
1. Human beings.
Advantages.
-They are cheap.
-They are readily available.
-They can easily move from one point to another.

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-They can scale steep gradients.
Disadvantages.
-They carry limited amounts of goods.
-They are slow.
-They easily tire, especially over long distances.
-They can cheat or steal the goods.
2. Animals (Draught power)
-They are cheap.
-They are readily available.
-They can scale steep gradients.
Disadvantages.
-They carry limited amounts of goods.
-They are slow.
-They easily tire, especially over long distances and therefore need constant rest.
-They are used for limited time frames.
-They are uncertain when being used.
3. Carts, Rickshaw and Bicycles.
-Advantages.
-They are cheap.
-They are environmentally friendly.
-They need simple technology to manufacture and repair.
Disadvantages.
-They carry limited amounts of goods.
-They are slow.
-They are tiresome as they depend on human power.
4. Canoes and Dhows
Advantages
-They are cheap.
-They are environmentally friendly.
-They are versatile.

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They need simple technology to manufacture and repair.
Disadvantages
-They carry limited amounts of goods.
-They are very slow
-They can capsize (that is overturn in the water).
-They may need human power to use.
B. Modern means of transport.
-It could be in the form of land, water or air transport.
Land transport -It includes roads, railway lines and pipelines.
1. Road transport.
-It comes in different forms which include the following;
a) Passenger transport such as buses, commuter omnibuses and taxes which mainly move people
from one place to another.
b) Goods or freight transport such as trucks which transport oil, minerals, agricultural products
and furniture from one place to another.
c) Pushcarts which are used to transport goods over short distances.
Advantages of road transport.
-It is fairly cheap over short distances.
-It is flexible and can be used to provide door to door services.
-It has limited on-loading and off-loading, therefore saves time.
-It can be used in remote or hilly areas that are connected by other means of transport.
-It can handle different forms of goods, such as small and fairly big.
-It can reach outlying areas such as tourist attractions which are not easily reached by other
modes of transport.
-Passenger transport such as buses can pick up and drop off passengers at convenient points.
-It is fast over short distances.
Disadvantages of road transport.
-It is expensive over long distances for both passengers and goods.
-The cost of fuel may be high and at times it is scarce.
-It is associated with traffic congestion which causes delays.
-It is associated with environmental problems such as air and noise pollution.

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-It is associated with theft of goods.
-It is inadequate for moving large volumes of bulky goods.
-It has high running costs which includes the purchasing of spare parts and lubricants such as oil
and brake fluids.
-Roads are expensive to maintain especially I areas where potholes have developed.
-Passenger transport such as buses and commuter omnibuses are associated with touts which are
a menace to passengers.
2. Railway transport.
Advantages
-It is cheap for moving people and goods over short and long distances.
-It is able to carry heavy goods or large loads on one trip.
-It carries many passengers on one trip.
-It is less prone to accidents, thus making it the safest means of transport.
-It is fast when electrified.
-Train stations are situated in the city, making trains accessible.
Disadvantages.
-It is a slow means of transport, especially coal and diesel powered trains.
-Trains cannot scale steep gradients.
-It has high running costs over long distances.
-Railway transport cannot provide door to door services.
-It is not available in remote areas.
-It is too restrictive as trains can only by pass each other at prescribed points.
-It involves a lot of on-loading and off-loading.
3. Pipeline and electricity cables.
-Pipelines play an important role in the movement of liquids, gas as well as sewage from one
place to another.
-Pipelines transport oil, natural gas, water as well as sewage.
-Pipelines can also be used to transport pulverised iron and coal flowing in water.
-Pulverised means that the goods have been reduced to small particles.
-An oil pipeline which is 300km moves crude oil from Beira in Mozambique to Feruka near
Mutare (Zimbabwe).

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The pipelines lies in the area called the Beira Corridor that links Zimbabwe to the Indian Ocean.
-An oil pipeline also links Feruka and Harare.
-Pipelines can run on the surface or underground.
-On the other hand electricity cables are used to carry electricity from power stations to
consumers in various parts of the country.
Advantages of pipelines.
-Pipelines are cheap once installed.
-It can be used to transport bulky liquids.
-Pipelines that are installed underground are fairly secure.
-They are very efficient, since the supply of the fluids is consistent.
-It can transport large volumes of fluids.
-It ensures the availability of services to people such as the provision of piped water and sewage
removal.
Disadvantages of pipelines.
-Pipelines are immobile once installed.
-It can only carry fluids and not solids such as agricultural products, furniture.
-It is expensive to install in rough terrain and cold regions.
-It is easy to sabotage especially if it is on the surface.
-Leaks and other damages may be difficult to detect especially if underground.
-Special expensive pipelines are required to carry inflammable.
-People may be burnt and killed whilst trying to repair leaking pipelines.
3. Water transport.
-It involves ocean transport as well as inland water transport which includes rivers, lakes and
canals.
Ocean transport.
-Zimbabwe is a landlocked country, meaning that it is surrounded by other countries and does
not have any territorial access to the sea.
-Because of its landlockedness, the country is unable to directly use the sea for transport and
trade.
-It therefore relies on countries such as such as South Africa and Mozambique for goods that are
transported by sea transport.

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-Passengers are transported by ocean liners while the ships that transport both passengers and
goods are called cargo liners.
Different types of ships are required to transport different types of goods.
-Very large cargo tankers or ships are called super tankers and can carry over 450 000 tonnes of
oil.
-Large metal boxes known as containers are used to transport goods in ships.
-The containers are easily loaded onto and off loaded from ships and can carry about 20 000kgs
of goods.
-These containers reduce the risk of theft and breakages of goods.
-They are very common in moving goods from North America and Europe, North America and
Japan as well as between Europe and South East Asia.
-Cruise ships carry people across oceans and can carry up to 5 000 people on one trip.
-The cruise ships have bedrooms, dining rooms, cinemas as well as swimming pools.
Trans-shipment points.
-Trans-shipment refers to the process of transferring goods from one form of transport to another
and the point where it occurs is known as the trans-shipment point.
-When ships reach ports, the goods are transferred to other means of transport so that they can
reach their final destinations that are not reachable by sea transport.
-The bulk cargo also need to be broken down into small units because it might be going to
different destinations.
-Large ships carry goods such as grains cement or oil in bulk but on reaching the ports, the goods
need to be re-packed or broken down into small units.
-The process of breaking down the goods is known as the break of bulk and the point where the
process occurs is known as the break of bulk point.
-At times the value is added at the break of bulk points, for example oil is refined and distributed
by other modes of transport.
Inland water transport
-It depends on the availability of natural water ways such as rivers and lakes as well as man-
made water ways for example canals.
-In Africa inland water transport is limited to major rivers such as the Congo, Nile, Niger, the
Gambia and the Zambezi.
-In Zimbabwe it takes place between Kariba and Binga where goods are carried by the Kariba
Ferry.
-Communities living close to rivers have developed ways of transporting goods across the rivers.

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-They use the wooden canoes, reed canoes as tree trunk footbridges.

Advantages of water transport.

-It is a cheap from of transport.
-It is used to transport bulky goods at once.
-There is handling of cargo through the use of containers.
-Ocean liners are very comfortable with bedrooms, lounges and play grounds.
-The ocean liners can carry many passengers, over 3000 on one trip across oceans.
Disadvantages of water transport.
-It is a slow means of transport.
-It is not suitable for transporting perishable goods.
-It is affected by weather hazards such as the hurricanes as well as by ice bergs.
-It is associated with accidents such as oil leaks which cause environmental pollution especially
where oil tankers break up.
-Ports are becoming too small to handle increasingly larger ships.
-Third world ports are poor and have poor, inefficient handling facilities.
-Inland water ways such as the rivers and canals may silt up and become difficult
-It is also affected by fog which may reduce visibility and cause accidents.
5. Air transport.
-It is a modern means of transport that plays an important role in moving people and goods from
one place to another.
-Airplanes can travel very long distances in a short period of time.
-Airports are usually located far away from residential suburbs or densely populated areas
because of the need to prevent accidents and reduce noise pollution.
-They are also located where the land is flat for easy landing and taking off.
Advantages of air transport.
-It is a fast means of transport.
-It can be used to transport perishable goods such as flowers from one country to another.
-It is very comfortable.

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-It is not affected by surface relief at higher altitude.
-It can be used in places of emergency such as rescue operations through the use of helicopters
when there is a war or natural disasters such as floods.
-It can be used in areas of scattered communities with poor land communication or inaccessible
areas such as the Polar Regions and the deserts.
-It can cover very long distances without refueling.
-It is very direct.
-It can be used to carry high value goods safely.
Disadvantages of air transport.
-It is expensive for both long and short distances.
-It is associated with air and noise pollution.
-It is affected by weather conditions such as storms and floods.
-It is not flexible and cannot provide door to door services.
-Accidents are fatal, some have no survivors.
-It is prone to sabotage and terrorism.
-Airports are built far away from people, meaning other modes of transport are required to carry
people to the airports.
-Countries have restrictions on their airspace and as a result there are now flight corridors.

TRANSPORT NETWORK SYSTEMS IN ZIMBABWE.

The Road Network System.
In Zimbabwe the road have been divided into two groups namely;
1.Wide tarred roads - These are two way highways with a minimum width of 6m.
2. Other roads- These include narrow tarred roads, strip roads and gravel roads.
-In Zimbabwe the roads are classified using the A-system which has a number added to it,
indicating the smoothness of the surface.
-A1 refers to the best surfaced roads in Zimbabwe.
-It is then followed by A2, A3, A4 depending on the smoothness of the surface.
-In Zimbabwe there are more wide tarred roads in the Central, North Eastern and the eastern part
of the country.
-The tarred roads are fewer in the south, south western, Western and North Western parts of the
country.

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-The wide roads mainly link areas with vast commercial activities such as cities, towns, mines
and tourist attractions.
-The greatest concentration of roads is found around Harare with about 8 roads radiating from it.
-On the other hand, Bulawayo, the second largest city has four roads radiating from it.
-There are also tarred roads that link places such as Gweru, Bindura, Zvishavane, Bindura,
Chivhu, Masvingo and other places.
-The wide tarred roads cross Zimbabwe’s border at six border posts, that is; Victoria Falls,
Plumtree, Beitbridge, Nyamapanda, Mutare and Chirundu.
-If a country has many roads it is said to have a dense network system.
-A dense road network system makes it for goods and people to be moved from one place to
another.
Reasons for the distribution of roads in Zimbabwe.
-There are many roads in the Central, North Eastern and eastern parts of the country due to a lot
of commercial activities such as farms, mines as well as industrial activities.
-There are also more towns as well as large populations that need to be linked by roads.
-Physically the land is fairly flat, thus making the construction of the roads quite easy.
-The other parts of the country have limited road network system due low populations and lack
of vibrant economic activities caused by hot and dry environments.
-Some of the lands are used as national parks and reserves and have less need for many tarred
roads.
-The tarred roads are also fewer than the other types of roads because they are expensive to
construct.
-Poor quality roads found in the communal areas are also due to political reasons where colonial
governments only wanted to develop commercial areas.
-Zimbabwe has 18 4000km of state roads.
-The roads fall under the Ministry of Transport and are managed by the Zimbabwe National
Road Authority.
-In the rural areas the roads are the responsibility of the rural district councils.
-The construction of roads is strongly affected by relief features.
More often roads are constructed along watershed for the following reasons;
 Preventing erosion of the roads by the rivers of the washing away of bridges.
 Avoid the costs of building bridges to cross the rivers.
 Preventing waterlogging and sinking of the roads.

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-However at times the roads are built across the rivers to follow the shortest possible route
linking areas or places.
-This is the case with the Birchenough Bridge where the Masvingo-Mutate road cross the Save
river.
-Roads also take long and circular routes where marshes and lakes occur.
-In hilly terrain, the roads are built along valleys, gaps and passes to reduce the gradient scaled
by the vehicles.
A map showing the road transport network system in Zimbabwe.

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The Railway Network System in Zimbabwe.
-In Zimbabwe, the main railway line runs along the central watershed from Bulawayo, through
Gweru, Kadoma, Chegutu to Harare and then from Harare to Mutare.
-It was built during the colonial era in the late 1890s and early 1900s.
-There are also some railway lines which were built from the main route for specific purposes.
-The railway lines connect most major mines and heavy industrial plants.
-The railway line also links with other SADC countries such as Zambia, Mozambique,
Botswana, Malawi and South Africa.
-The railway line from South Africa reached Bulawayo in 1897 and Harare in 1902.
-The railways of the country are run by a parastatal known as the National Railways of
Zimbabwe (NRZ).
-The NRZ has its headquarters and major workshops in Bulawayo.
-The railway line between Dabuka in Gweru and Harare was electrified in 1983 but currently
electricity does not run due to poor power supplies and damage of the electric power lines.
-The NRZ plays a vital role in the exports and imports of goods in Zimbabwe.
-It also transport people from one place to another at low costs.
The NRZ is facing a number of problems which include the following;
-Ageing rolling stock or wagons.
-There has been mine and factory closures which are an important source of income for the
parastatal.
-Shortage of coal for some of the locomotives or the coal becoming too expensive.
-For the trains using diesel, the fuel costs have been increasing and it has been scarce at times.
-It has also faced stiff competition for passengers and goods with road and air transport.
-There has also been occasional power cuts by ZESA affecting movements and train signals on
electrified parts.
-There has also been inefficiency and corruption by some board members.
The following developments have occurred in rail transport since 1980
-The electrification of the Dabuka – Harare portion of the main rail.
-The use of diesel in place of coal. -The construction of the West Nicholson -Beitbridge line.

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A Map showing the railway lines of Zimbabwe.

Air Transport in Zimbabwe.

-Harare, the capital city, dominates both domestic and international air routes.
-International flights are mainly dominated by tourism, an important service industry in the
country.
-The major internal destinations from Zimbabwe’s international airport include
 Johannesburg in South Africa.
 Lusaka in Zambia.
 Lilongwe in Malawi.
 Gaborone in Botswana.
 Nairobi in Nigeria.
 Mauritius.
 London.
 Kinshasa and Lubumbashi in the democratic Republic of Congo.

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Harare dominates international air routes for the following reasons:
-The existence of a large market.
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Transport Challenges.
Road transport.
-The construction of roads take up a land that could be used for agriculture and settlement.
-The construction of roads lead to the destruction of animal habitat through deforestation.
-It may lead to the displacement of people.
-Road transport is associated with a lot of accidents.
-It causes air and noise pollution.
-It increases accessibility which then bring criminal activities such as theft and prostitution.
-Road are concrete surfaces which promote surface runoff, hence soil erosion.
Common causes of road accidents.
-Over speeding and reckless driving.
-Narrow roads which cause traffic congestion.
-Use of road unworthy vehicles.
-Overloading that is associated with buses and commuter omnibuses.
-Muddy roads especially during the rainy season.
-The existence of ‘black spots’ along the roads due to mechanical and technical faults in the road
design.
-Flooded roads and washed away bridges.
-Old roads that are full of potholes.
Possible to solutions to problems associated with road transport.
-Dualisation of major roads.
-Widening and smoothening of tarred roads.
-Educating the public about safety on roads.
-Use of heavy fines to those who break road rules such as reckless driving.

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