Transportation vs Transshipment: Optimizing Your Cargo's Route

In the global logistics and shipping industry, transportation and transshipment are two terms for transferring goods. Although they have some similarities, they are often misinterpreted. Understanding the difference between transportation and transshipment is critical to cargo route optimization and decreasing shipment costs. Knowing when to use each of them is essential, as it will affect your shipment.

This article will discuss transportation vs. transshipment in detail and its advantages, which will help you optimize your cargo route. 

What is transportation? 

Transportation is the process of transferring goods from one place to another using different modes of transportation, such as trucks, ships, airplanes, and trains. Under this process, the journey starts from the port of origin and ends in shipping terms at the discharge port. This process is significant for supply chain management and all businesses. It is included in the secondary sector, greatly contributes to a country's GDP, and is a part of route planning for cargo. 

What are the benefits of direct transportation?

The transportation of goods is very beneficial for businesses in all the actors as this process bridges the primary and tertiary sectors. 

1. Enhanced accessibility: Many modes of transportation, such as land, water, and air, make products or services easily accessible for customers. For example, we can buy products far from our place because of transportation services. 
2. Increased agility: Transportation has also increased flexibility due to the availability of different modes of transport, such as trucks, trains, and ships. You can choose any mode of transport according to your budget, timing, and coordination with the buyer. 
3. Cost-efficiency: Cargo transportation costs are low, which helps optimize supply chain management. With increasing technological advancement, you can easily choose the affordable and best method of transportation for cargo routing.
4. Operational efficiency: Transportation increases business execution efficiency, as it is easy to transfer goods on time in the best possible condition at lower costs. 
5. Sustainable mode: With increased technological development, transportation has become sustainable, causing less environmental harm while maintaining the integrity of supply chain management. 
6. Reduced risks: Direct transportation of goods from one place to another ensures cargo safety and reduces the chances of damage. 

What is transshipment? 

Transshipment is a type of transportation in which goods are transferred from one mode of transportation or carrier to another. This process is included in transportation from the loading to the discharge port. It occurs mainly in multimodal transportation, where cargo is unloaded at a point, be it a port or airport, and then loaded into another mode of transport. There can be one or more cargo transshipments in the journey. There has been an evolution of intermodal transportation and containers along with transshipment.

What are the advantages of transshipment?

It is a huge question: why transship goods when there is an option of direct transportation? Transshipment logistics offers some advantages that lead to the use of cargo transshipment. Let's discuss those advantages: 

1. Overcome geographical limitations: Sometimes, the final destination where the user wants his product is not accessible through land or water transportation, so the goods have to be fiesta transported to the nearest location, and then another mode is used. 
2. Safety concerns: Security is the utmost priority. So, if transportation through one means of transportation is not possible, another must be used to ensure the safety of the container types and leads to cargo path Optimisation.
3. Cost efficiency: When transporting goods to a specific location is expensive, people use different modes of transport, as every mode has costs that can help you minimize the expense. 
4. Prevent legal restriction: Transshipment becomes important when you want to avoid any kind of restriction on particular goods in certain areas through specific means of transportation. 

How does transportation differ from transshipment?

Transportation and transshipment are two different processes, but they are often confused, which leads to increased shipment costs. Let's understand the difference through brief points: 

1. Objective: Transportation transfers goods from the initial port to the discharge port. At the same time, transshipment is the extension of transportation where the goods are transferred between modes of transportation and the carrier. 
2. Shipment journey: Transportation is the entire journey, while transshipment is part of the journey. Yet both are valuable processes for cargo routing.
3. Location: Transshipment occurs between the initial port and the intermediate ports and airports to change modes of transport, while transportation occurs from the port of loading to the port of discharge. 
4. Complexity: Transshipment is more complex as it involves various intermediate locations, unloading, and loading them again to other modes, while transportation is way more straightforward, where there is one place for loading and then comes the place for unloading. 

Let's understand transportation vs. transshipment in tabular form.

Difference	Transportation	Transshipment
Objective	Transfer goods from the initial port to the discharge port.	Transport goods from the initial port to the intermediate port.
Shipment journey	It involves an entire journey.	It is a part of the journey.
Location	It starts from the loading port and ends at the discharge port.	It starts at the port of loading and ends at the port and airport during the journey.
Complexity	The complex process involves loading and unloading at intermediate ports, reloading to another mode, and new documentation.	Loading at the loading port and unloading at the discharge port makes it simple.

How do you choose between transportation and transshipment?

Consider certain factors while choosing between transportation and transportation:

1. Route complexity: Check whether your route is directly accessible. Initiate proper route planning and then select. If yes, choose transportation; if not, select transshipment. 
2. Nature of cargo: Consider the nature of your cargo; if it is sensitive, like glass or perishable, you must choose transportation. 
3. Time constraints: If transit time is limited, selecting direct transportation rather than transshipment is better. 

Transportation vs. transshipment is a vast topic that needs to be highlighted. Both terms are essential for the shipping industry and route optimization in logistics. You can choose one of them by considering certain factors, such as the nature of the cargo, the final destination, the route, the budget, and the time boundations you have. So, select what is most suitable for your shipping journey.

LOTUS Containers, one of the most reliable container suppliers, provides the most sturdy, ISO-certified shipping containers suitable for transportation and transshipment.