SEA TRANSPORT: Advantages

SEA TRANSPORT:

Advantages:

• Cheap: Sea transport is cheap for carrying bulky and heavy goods over long distances. Moreover the fuel needed to run a ship is much less when compared with air transport.
• Bulk: Thousands of tones of goods can be delivered in a single journey. Oil tankers can deliver four hundred thousand tones of oil in a single journey.
• Flexibility: Ships go where business takes them. Hence they are flexible and exporters can transport goods easily.
• Facilities: Ships are specially built. Perishable goods can be transported in refrigerated vessels. There are ships for transporting raw materials. There are sophisticated loading and unloading facilities for ships.
• Short notice: Ships can be arranged at short notice to carry goods to any part of the world.
• Containerization: Goods are now packed in containers, sealed and then transported. Damages caused by rainwater and sunlight can be avoided. Theft of goods can also be avoided. The containers are loaded and unloaded with the help of cranes. So breakages can be minimized. Perishable goods can be transported in freezed containers.

Disadvantages:

• Slow Speed: Sea transport is not suitable for goods urgently needed because of its slow speed. So hence not all types of goods can be transported by sea.
• Documentation: Documents involved in transporting goods by sea are more in number and are very complex.
• Other costs: Expenses for insurance premium, packing costs, storage and port charges are very high and as a result increase the cost price of goods.