Goods must be transported from their place of production to the many locations of their consumers. This operation is an important marketing function. Primary carriers are those using their own equipment for the transportation of goods. There are five types of primary carriers for the transport of goods: railroads, waterway carriers, motor-freight carriers, pipelines and air-freight carriers.
Railroads carry an important part of the total freight. Their advantage lies in their wide variation and adaptability to individual shippers’ needs. They can carry the heaviest and the lightest products and as to speed, they offer a range that goes from “drag” trains to “flyers”. For special types of goods, there are adapted cars. Thus, for perishables, refrigerator cars are used, for oil products there are tank cars, for different other materials dumper cars are used. The freight rates of railways compare favourably with the other modes of transportation.
Waterway carriers offer low-cost means of shipping bulky products which have low value in relation to weight. This mode of transport is especially used when speed of transportation is not essential. Cargo-boats are used for the transportation of merchandises. Ore-carriers are especially designed for transportation of ore. Single-decked vessels are used for timber, while tankers are used for crude oil transportation.
