Memo

To: From: Date: RE:

Francois Damba Aung Kyaw Moe 29 May 2013

TASK 1 TRANSPORT

General criteria for mode selection We have a plan to move our warehouse items from Mugla Warehouse to a potential new warehouse at Jumna and it is local movement that will involve much of road transportation. According to the map of Betaland, there is a road directly connected Mugla and Jumna through the capital Dhetra. The total length of this road is about 305 KM No matter what kind of transport we will be using, it is important to have a careful planning in order to maximize the use of vehicles and drivers.

ND THE CRITERIA FOR SELECTION

According to the learning material, the selection of mode should be influenced by Operational factors, Mode selection criteria and Matching operational factors to the selection criteria. We shall see these three parts of mode selection in more details.

OPERATIONAL FACTORS
Operational factors

Since transportation is a purposeful activity and the goods are transported for the sake of targeted customers/beneficiaries, the requirements of the end-users are the most important factor. We have to take consideration of the geographical location and dispersion of the customers to be serviced, and the delivery time frame, the physical condition and environment of delivery point in order to get access and range of weight possible to transport, and nearby in-hand loading unloading capacity. Sometime the size of cargo is a determinant factor that will impact on the selection of a mode of transport. Large and bulky cargos are used to be delivered by sea freight.

Another important factor is the features of consignment to be moved. In this regard we have to scrutinize (1) the size, shape and weight of the goods being transported (2) the value,
requirement for security in transit, and degree of fragility (3) Obsolescence/deterioration of the
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product and (4) the hazardous nature of goods. For example, compact but fragile and expensive kind of goods should be transport by air whereas bulky and heavy items should be sea freighted. Apart from the nature and type of consignment, there are some environmental factors to take care of. These factors include the prevailing environmental and legislative considerations in certain countries, the existing infrastructure of a country for transportation, law and tax policies concerning with the particular choice of a mode of transportation, the availability of labour and capital, specialist and technological knowledge. The major factor in the environment is the climatic condition of a country and the type of weather it undergo every part of a year. Any kind of potential natural disaster like flood and storm, earthquake and drought, should be considered. The mode selected should provide the best solution related to the nature of the goods to be moved, the urgency of the delivery need and the minimisation of cost. After choosing an appropriate mode of transport, we have to think about to manage to meet the detail requirements of delivery based on the factors of emergency and programme requirements.

ODE SELECTION CRITERI

Mode selection criteria According to the learning material, there are 4 key criteria to measure in choosing a appropriate mode of transportation. They are (1) Speed (2) Reliability (3) Cost and (4) Flexibility. We can see these selection criteria in more detail here: (1) Speed Speed is the main criteria of choosing a transport mode and it is connected with the criteria of price. The quicker and faster the movement is, the price will become higher. In an emergency situation, we have to consider about the speed at the expense of high price since we need to push the supplies into the affected areas. (2) Reliability Not only speed, but a mode of transport must be reliable in service to deliver the goods to the required destination. When a mode of transport is unreliable, it will impact on the operation of a humanitarian organization. (3) Cost As mentioned above, cost is related with speed and reliability of a mode of transportation. It can be considered as a cost per sack, cost per tonne and cost per pallet or similar and that is linked with the distance to the destination. We have to balance cost of a mode of transport with other criteria in compared to the other modes of transportation. (4) Flexibility Flexibility of a mode means the propensity to vary in a given mode of transportation and it mainly depends on the infrastructure within which a mode has to operate will affect the flexibility of that mode. In this regard, road transportation is the most flexible one compare to the railway transport that has little opportunity to vary the course of transportation. Identifying the most suitable modes of Transportation

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Now lets go back to our original task of moving supplies from Mugla to Jumna warehouse. We have to use a structured approach to select the appropriate mode of transport and in doing so, we need to analyse carefully all relevant factors of operation along with its opportunities and constraints. If a mode of transport is practically not feasible, we have to omit it immediately from our list to consider. If geographical factors are not favourable for a particular mode, we shpuld also rule out this option too. Lack of appropriate infrastructure may also remove the opportunity to use a particular mode. We can see that there are 3 possible modes of transport between Mugla and Jumna: They are (1) sea freight from Mugla to Jumna (2) road transport from Mugla to Jumna (3) railway transport from Mugla to Jumna and they can be compared by the following table:

Criteria/ Mode Distance in KM Relative Speed

Road Transport 305 Moderate Road conditions are acceptable and government start to maintain road safety as per international standards Medium

Railways Transport 405 Moderate

Sea Transport Along Coastal line Slow

Reliability

Good and controlled by Government management

Limited reliability

Cost per tonne/KM

Relatively low Railways network only exists in north part of the country and little intersection with roads except at Dhetra. Large consignment can be sent Cheap at overall cost and have large loading capacity Delay and difficulty in finding freight cars/inflexible

Relatively low Low flexibility and there is no other sea port towns except Mugla and Jumna Large consignment can be sent Cheap at overall cost and have large loading capacity in weight and volume Slow movement of cargo

Flexibility

High and move to multimodal transport Extensive road network connected all over Betaland Fast moving and direct transport from warehouse to warehouse There might be torrential rain and land sliding along the roads in rainy season

Other Considerations

Advantages

Disadvantages

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Since our reason to move supplies from Mugla to Jumna is to avoid Hurricane bharat, speed and flexibility are the major factors to consider. Therefore even price is higher than railways and sea freight, we should recommend road transport as the appropriate mode of transport for our cargo because of its better speed and flexibility.

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