Sea Freight
Sea transport has been the largest carrier of freight throughout recorded history. Although the importance of sea travel for
passengers have decreased due to aviation, it is effective for short trips and pleasure cruises. Transport by water is cheaper than transport by air, despite fluctuating exchange rates and CAF charges to account for such.
Ship transport can be realized over any distance by boat, ship, sailboat or barge, over oceans and lakes, through canals or along rivers. Shipping may be for commerce, recreation or the military purpose; while extensive inland shipping is less critical today, the major waterways of the world, including many canals are still very important and integral parts of worldwide economies. Virtually any material can be moved by water; however, water transport becomes impractical when material delivery is highly time-critical such as various types of perishable produce. However, Water transport is highly cost-effective with a regular pipeline of schedulable cargoes, such as trans-oceanic shipping of consumer products— and especially for heavy loads or bulk cargos, such as coal, coke, ores or grains. Arguably, the industrial revolution took place best where cheap water transport by canal, navigations, or shipping by all types of
watercraft on natural waterways supported cost-effective bulk transport.
Containerization is a system of intermodal freight transport using intermodal containers (also called shipping containers and ISO containers) made of weathering steel. The containers have standardized dimensions. They can be loaded and unloaded, stacked, transported efficiently over long distances, and transferred from one mode of transport to another—container ships, rail transport flatcars, and semi-trailer trucks—without being opened. The handling system is completely mechanized so that all handling is done with cranes and special forklift trucks. All containers are numbered and tracked using computerized systems.