How do goods move

All the products we buy are delivered to stores, homes or workplaces by a transport truck, cargo van or sometimes even a bicycle. The popularity of online shopping has increased the number of packages delivered to our homes and workplaces.

While you no longer need to go to the store to buy goods, online shopping has increased the number of delivery vehicles on our roads. It also means that more deliveries happen outside of traditional work hours. Businesses in Calgary depend on our transportation network to bring them the products they need to help us live our daily lives. Some businesses buy raw materials such as wheat and barley to make into goods like flour and beer. Other companies buy goods for manufacturing and construction, like metal and lumber.

Retailers ship pre-made items such as clothing, electronics and snack foods to Calgary for us to buy in malls and corner stores. The Calgary International Airport is an important part of our goods movement network.

For residents, this includes goods like medications and food products that are not native to Calgary. For businesses, this includes goods like jewelry, live lobsters from Atlantic Canada and oil and gas equipment. These goods need to move safely and quickly, to prevent them from expiring or to keep production running. Rail containers carry goods such as auto parts, appliances, housewares and electronics. Most of the goods carried by rail go to manufacturing facilities, warehouses and stores in the Calgary region.

Some are also trucked onward to other towns and cities across Western Canada. Many containers arrive on ships at the Ports of Vancouver or Prince Rupert. Others come from eastern Canada and the US. Due to the higher cost of air freight, it is often used only for the most critical shipping needs, and most supply chains will use it as a supplementary service after trucks and railroads.

Aircraft excel in two main areas for transporting goods, speed and reliability. Aircraft are generally the fastest way to get freight from one place to another, vital when time is an issue. Air freight is also more reliable that other forms of transport, as aircraft are less affected by delays than trucks. Unit Load Devices ULDs are specialized storage and transportation units, mainly used to move goods via air freight.

In most cases, ULDs are specifically designed for commercial, supply chain applications. ULDs consolidate goods together into standardized pallets or other storage units. These units can be moved via forklift and other machinery, making it fast and easy to load and unload aircraft.

Commercial freight aircraft come in a variety of sizes and capacities. ULDs introduce standardization for transporting goods, enhancing safety, speed and efficiency. The right ULD needs to be available at the right time to maximize throughput and shorten end-to-end air freight delays. Large container ships and other ocean-going cargo vessels are the primary way to move goods internationally. Ocean-going vessels include container ships, oil tankers, general cargo ships and bulk carriers.

Ocean-going vessels move goods between international ports in the global supply chain. These states have substantial bulk movements of energy commodities. Ratio of outbound to inbound domestic shipments by value An interconnected freight transportation network contributes to state economic growth by supporting resource development and expanding interstate commerce. A ratio of outbound to inbound shipments greater than 1. In terms of value, North Dakota and Alaska have the highest ratios of 2.

Although North Dakota has a relatively small population, it is a major oil producer. According to the Freight Analysis Framework, pipeline and rail were the primary modes for moving oil out of North Dakota. Two other states that exported more to other states than they imported were Connecticut and California.

The top outbound domestic shipment from Connecticut was mixed freight e. Electronics was the top outbound commodity from California, due in part to technology manufacturing in Silicon Valley. Hawaii had the lowest ratio of interstate outbound-to-inbound shipments by value at 0.

Florida, Arizona, and New Hampshire also exported far less to other states than they imported, partly due to demographics and other factors. Ratio of outbound to inbound domestic shipments by weight The top five net interstate exporters by weight are major producers of energy commodities: Alaska, Wyoming, North Dakota, Montana, and New Mexico.

Net domestic exporters are states that ship more freight to other states than they receive from other states. For domestic markets, rail and barge are used to transport coal over long distances, primarily to power plants. New Mexico is ranked in the top 10 for both oil and gas production.

Recommended citation U. Impeding the movement of goods impedes the economy. In the extreme situation where the supply chain comes to a standstill in a large metropolitan area, effects will be felt by locals and ripple out across the world.

If action is not taken to remedy the situation fast, residents will lose access to basic life necessities. Hospitals would exhaust their critical supplies in just 24 hours, service stations would run out of fuel in 48 hours, and grocery stores would be out of perishables in 72 hours.

Goods movement must be flexible and able to accommodate rapidly changing environments. Today there is an immense amount of pressure placed upon the goods movement industry.

Online sales are growing three times faster than traditional retail sales and companies have shifted to just-in-time deliveries — receiving goods only as they are needed to reduce inventory cost — requiring more frequent and customized deliveries.

Modern societal and technological trends, particularly the rise of consumerism and the service sector, impose even more demand on urban distribution systems that must operate within already dense, congested and strained networks.

The goods movement industry is the backbone of society; it cannot and will not disappear. No matter what, people need to receive goods to sustain their daily lifestyles. For decades, goods movement has existed in an ecosystem that has typically been openly hostile to it or given it a lower priority.

Until recently urban freight had been overlooked by urban planners and the government. Livability and Streets. The Environment. People and Technology. Increase truck parking and loading areas by adapting existing street and loading zone design.

Rethink preferential treatments for transit. Introduce pedestrian and bicycle-friendly means of delivery. Non-motorized modes of delivery, such as cargo cycles , pose less of a risk for pedestrians and bicyclists than large trucks or delivery vans. Since they travel at slower speeds, produce fewer emissions and generate less noise, they foster a more livable urban environment. Construct urban consolidation centers UCCs. UCCs are collective receiving points strategically located near or en route to city centers where trucks drop off goods rather than going to each store in the city center.

From the UCC, electric vans and cargo cycles can be used for the last mile delivery, thereby reducing congestion, emissions and noise, and improving safety for pedestrians and bicyclists.

However, the high cost of urban land typically requires local subsidies and may result in a lack of profitability. Buildings Implement an off-hour delivery program. Diverting truck trips to overnight hours , which requires receivers to change behavior and, in some cases, reconfigure their buildings to accept deliveries without staff.

This program can be voluntary or mandatory required by a municipality. Eliminate truck trips for municipal solid waste. One example is pneumatic tubes, which would be difficult to retrofit in existing buildings add significant cost to new developments. Rethink the design of urban buildings to accommodate modern trucks and delivery volumes. Cities should include the private real estate sector developers , public planning and economic development agencies in a process to develop enhanced building codes for off-street parking and loading facilities.

Zoning and building codes can be used to incentivize consideration of freight demands in both new construction and redevelopment projects. This is a low-cost approach compared to retroactive upgrades to existing infrastructure. Redesign insufficient or outdated loading docks to accommodate modern trucks. While it is not possible in many cases to retrofit buildings to accommodate changes in truck fleets, there have been instances where it is feasible.

Cities should survey buildings with outmoded facilities and determine whether retrofitting is possible, including options for creating adequate setbacks from streets so trucks do not interfere with traffic flow when unloading.