Logistics is one of those topics that attracts the attention only of the few. However, once it attracts that interest, it sparks lively and heated discussions among its enthusiasts. For example, one of such interesting topics is delivering wheeled cargo over the seas and oceans. There are two main methods of delivering cargo that are used. It may appear to be boring but I have never seen a person who would be bored by it once they saw how the actual process of transporting goods across oceans looks like. I cannot show it to you, but I can try to describe it as best as I can.
One of these two methods is the traditional container shipping, also known as cargo freight. You probably know what it is – big, rectangular containers holding the cargo inside of them. In case of vehicles, it’s usually on per container, unless the size of a vehicle is rather small. OK, we have our cargo in containers, now what? Well, we will need a ship that will be able to carry it. A cargo freighter is definitely able to do that. It can carry thousands of such containers, both in its holds and on its deck, reaching insane tonnage. Sure, but such containers are pretty heavy, and the ship is incredibly tall, how to load them onto it? In every bigger seaport there are a couple of gigantic cranes with strong magnets that are able to easily lift such containers onto the ship. So it looks like we have everything: we have our cargo in containers, we have a ship, and we can load the cargo on the ship. Once the ship reaches the destination, the process is reversed. But there is one problem – this process takes too much of the precious time, making the bill much more prohibitive. Normally, it is unavoidable, but in case of wheeled vehicles, it is.
How? Well, the ancients already knew that a simple wheel plus a ramp can work wonders. It’s funny how much time it took to reinvent this simple solution. Thanks to the RORO method (roll-on, roll-off) the cargo can be loaded straight onto the ship, without the help of containers and cranes. What it does it not only renders containers and other packages unnecessary but it also greatly reduces load and unload time. Thanks to that, the cost of the cargo transport is significantly reduces.
It can be noted, that RORO shipping is a simple, yet very innovative method that makes importing and exporting cars and other vehicles extremely profitable. You get tons of savings on the delivering your cargo, and you sell the product for its normal price. So you can see that logistics can teach you not only something about business, but something about life as well.
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