Transport

Revise Transport for Commerce 7100 (O Level) — revision notes, 92 practice questions and instant AI marking.

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Cambridge O Level Commerce 7100

Transport

The big idea: Transport puts goods in the right place, at the right time and in the right quantity. Choosing the method is a trade-off between speed, cost, safety and what the goods are like, and containers made moving goods between methods quick and cheap.

Summary — What This Chapter Covers

Transport has three functions in the supply chain: time (goods arrive when needed), place (goods are moved to where buyers are) and quantity (the right amount arrives).
Five methods: road (delivery vans, trucks, couriers), rail (freight trains), air (freight planes), sea (ferry, tanker, container ship, cargo liner) and pipeline.
Each method has advantages and disadvantages: road is flexible and door-to-door; rail is cheap for heavy loads over long distances; air is fast but expensive; sea carries huge loads cheaply but slowly; pipelines move liquids and gas continuously.
The choice depends on the nature of goods, urgency, cost, security, distance and the reliability of the transporter.
Containerisation carries goods in standard-sized sealed steel boxes that move between ship, train and truck; transshipment is moving them from one carrier to another on the way.

1. The Functions of Transport

Syllabus 4.1 · Papers 1 & 2

Time, place and quantity

Goods are made in one place and wanted in another. Transport is the aid to trade that overcomes distance, and the syllabus names three functions it performs in a supply chain.

Function	Meaning	Example
Time	Goods arrive when they are needed, not too early or too late	Fresh flowers are flown overnight so they are in shops the next morning
Place	Goods are moved from where they are made to where the buyers are	Tea grown on hillside estates is carried to ports and on to buyers in other countries
Quantity	The right amount of goods is delivered, from a single parcel to a full shipload	A supermarket receives one full truck a day instead of hundreds of small deliveries

Practice Question 1

A bakery delivers bread to 30 cafés every morning before 7 a.m. Explain how transport performs its time and place functions for the bakery.

2. Types and Methods of Transport

Syllabus 4.1 · Papers 1 & 2

Road, rail, air, sea and pipeline

Learn the types the syllabus names under each method. Questions often give a situation and ask which one fits.

Method	Types	What each type does
Road	Delivery vans, trucks, couriers	Vans carry small loads locally; trucks carry heavy loads and containers between towns; couriers collect and deliver parcels and documents quickly, often door-to-door
Rail	Freight trains	Carry heavy, bulky goods (coal, cement, containers) in large quantities over long distances on fixed track
Air	Freight planes	Carry light, valuable, urgent or perishable goods (medicines, jewellery, fresh flowers) over long distances
Sea	Ferry	Carries vehicles, trucks and passengers over short sea crossings; trucks drive on and off
Sea	Tanker	Carries liquids in bulk, such as crude oil, chemicals and liquid gas, in large tanks
Sea	Container ship	Carries thousands of standard containers, loaded and unloaded by cranes at container ports
Sea	Cargo liner	Runs on fixed routes to a fixed timetable, carrying general cargo for many different businesses
Pipeline	Pipeline	Moves liquids and gases (oil, gas, water) continuously through pipes, over land or under the sea

4. Containerisation

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Six factors applied to the situation
Standard boxes that change carrier in minutes
Choosing and defending a method

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Transport

Transport

Time, place and quantity

Road, rail, air, sea and pipeline

Past papers that test Transport

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