This: Cargo (disambiguation)

Cargo (or freight) refers to goods or produce transported, generally for commercial gain, by ship, aircraft, train, van or truck. In modern times, containers are used in most intermodal long-haul cargo transport.

Marine Cargo Types

There is a wide range of marine cargoes at seaport terminals operated. The primary types are these:

• Containers are the largest and fastest growing cargo category at most ports worldwide. Containerized cargo includes everything from auto parts and machinery components to shoes, toys, and frozen meat and seafood.

• Automobiles are handled at many ports.

• Project cargo and heavy lift cargo may include items such as manufacturing equipment, factory components, power equipment such as generators and wind turbines, military equipment or almost any other oversized or overweight cargo too big or too heavy to fit into a container.

• Break bulk cargo is typically material stacked on wooden pallets and lifted into and out of the hold of a vessel by cranes on the dock or aboard the ship itself. The volume of break bulk cargo has declined dramatically worldwide as containerization has grown.

• Bulk Cargoes, such as salt, oil, tallow, and Scrap metal, are usually defined as commodities that are neither on pallets nor in containers, and which are not handled as individual pieces, the way heavy-lift and project cargoes are. Alumina, grain, gypsum, logs and wood chips, for instance, are bulk cargoes.

Air Cargo

Main: Air Cargo

Air cargo is commonly known as freight. There are many firms which collect freight from a shipper and deliver it to the customer such as Nightfreight or UPS. Aircraft were first used for carrying mail as cargo in 1911, but eventually manufacturers started designing aircraft for freight as well. There are many commercial aircraft suitable for carrying cargo such as the Boeing 747 and the bigger An-124, which were purpose built to be easily converted to a cargo aircraft. Such very large aircraft also employ quick loading containers known as ULDs much like containerized cargo ships.

The military of most nations own and utilize large numbers of cargo aircraft such as the C-17 Globemaster III, for airlift logistics needs of such operations.

Freight train

main: Freight train Trains are capable of transporting large numbers of containers which have come off the shipping ports. Trains are also used for the transportation of steel, wood and coal. Trains are used as they can pull a large amount and generally have a direct route to the destination. Under the right circumstances, freight transport by rail is more economic and energy efficient than by road, especially when carried in bulk or over long distances. The main disadvantage of rail freight is its lack of flexibility. For this reason, rail has lost much of the freight business to road transport. Rail freight is often subject to transshipment costs since it must be transferred from one mode to another in the chain; these costs may dominate and practices such as containerization aim at minimizing these. Many governments are now trying to encourage more freight onto trains, because of the environmental benefits that it would bring; rail transport is very energy efficient.