The International Logistics

In simple language, international transportation or in other words, international logistics means the transfer of passengers or goods between two countries. These two countries may have a land, sea, or air border. Transportation and distribution play an important role in international trade. In this article, we intend to introduce you to one of the most fundamental and basic concepts of this field in a comprehensive and complete way. In this text, you will find the following topics:

• What is transportation?
• Transportation vocabulary
• Definition of international logistics
• Land Transportation
• Maritime Transportation
• Air Transportation
• Transport related services
• Types of transportation in terms of EBOPS
• Freight Services

What is transportation?

Transportation is a very deep and broad term that includes “the act of moving people, goods, energy, services, information and knowledge in a combined physical and virtual space” and “a collection of sciences, techniques, specialties It includes the methods, policies, rules, and regulations related to the design, manufacture, and use of moving tools and devices, environmental platforms and moving networks.

Transportation vocabulary

From the linguistic point of view, the word “Transport” is composed of the combination of two Latin words “Trans” which means to pass, and “Portare” which means to carry. In fact, transportation is one of the most extensive human knowledge and techniques that directly or indirectly include other sciences and techniques of the world.

Definition of international logistics

International organizations provide different definitions of international logistics. In the second chapter of the System of National Accounts (S.N.A.) prepared by the United Nations in 1968, international logistics services are classified as activities and include land (road and rail), sea, and air transportation. and energy transmission lines.

Land transportation

Land transportation in the United Nations System of National Accounts includes passenger and cargo transportation by rail and road, as well as transportation by pipeline, as well as ancillary management services, such as the administration of the following:

In this division, the activities of building infrastructure and transportation hardware such as building vehicles, repairing shops, and restaurants, building roads and train tracks, etc. are not considered. The activities related to the construction of vehicles and spare parts and repair shops are considered industrial units, and the construction of roads and railway lines, tunnels, and parking lots are classified as construction activities.

Sea Transportation

Sea transportation includes the transportation of passengers and goods in oceans and foreign waters, and its ancillary services include the following:

Note that the activities related to the repair, reconstruction, and papering of ships are considered industrial activities.

Air transportation

It includes passenger and cargo air transportation, airport administration, flight area, aviation facilities, and aircraft rental. Also, note that the construction and repair of airplanes are among industrial activities and the construction of airports is considered among construction activities.

Transport related services

These services include management services such as cargo and passenger movement, inspection and control of road vehicles, ships, airplanes, warehousing, agencies providing transportation services, etc.

On the other hand, the OECD Economic Development and Cooperation Organization in the Extended Balance of Payments Services Classification (EBOPS) classifies transportation as including all international logistics activities provided by the residents of one community to another community. It includes passenger transportation, goods movement, rental of vehicles (with or without crew) (charter), and other auxiliary and support services.

Types of transportation in terms of EBOPS

EBOPS specifies eight different types of transport:

1. Road: It includes international cargo transportation by truck and other trucks and international passenger transportation by bus and other public transportation.
2. Rail: including all transportation services by train
3. Air: all air transport services including passengers and goods
4. Space: includes sending satellites into space by government space organizations for owners of commercial satellites such as telecommunication companies and…
5. Sea: including all services that are carried out by the sea.
6. Internal waters: related to international transportation activities on rivers, canals, and lakes, including internal waterways of a country or common waterways between two or more countries.
7. Energy transmission pipelines: includes the international transportation of any goods in pipelines and energy transmission networks. Also, in this section, there are electricity boosting (charge) stations located separately from the production (generators) and distribution centers.
8. Supporting and auxiliary services: including any activities not included in the above collections. Most of these cases include passenger services and cargo transportation.

Freight Services

Cargo or Freight includes all goods and products that are transported from one point to another by ship, plane, train, van, or truck for the purpose of trade. Today, the container is used to move most of the goods that are moved over a long distance and with a multi-modal system (Inter-Model). Shipping services are divided into several sections:

• Services related to the export of goods in export bases, the cost of which is usually borne by the destination country.
• Services related to the import of goods, the cost of which is paid by the native country.
• Services related to the transportation of goods that are neither exports nor imports of a country, but pass through the territory of the native country as a transit.
• Services related to the transportation of the goods of the native country between other countries (by the representative of local companies or non-local companies)
• Transportation services between two coastal points in a country
• Transportation of postal cargo
• Short-term rental of vehicles
• Port services include towing, floating cranes and dredging machines, container loading, and unloading, warehousing, packing, navigation aids, repair and cleaning in ports and airports on ships and planes, and rescue operations.
• Sales agents (cargo, passenger, and brokerage services)

In this way, we have seen the pillars of international logistics and transportation. The only remaining point is the term cabotage, which is used to describe transportation services between different modes. And also, the points within a country include services provided by domestic organizations to foreign companies or vice versa.