One recent developments within transportation infrastructure that has Essay

One recent developments within transportation infrastructure that has contributed to increased efficiencies in transportation and distribution - Essay Example ver time, some urban areas have developed a framework aimed at creating a sustainable freight transport system and enhancing the sustainability of intermodal railroad transport. IRRT integrates modal shift strategies and urban freight. Therefore, it is vital that local authorities play a vital role to achieve the implementation of this framework. This framework can help to guide urban planners in overcoming urban transport’s existing shortcomings. This paper will also illustrate the benefits to local sustainability that intermodal railroad transport will bring. Producers within the supply chain are involved in movement of multiple goods, whether this involves the customer or the supplier (Vallespir, 2010: p101). Logistics, essentially, involves the flow of goods and materials along the chain of supply including all other activities that are related. Transportation is part of logistics and involves moving of goods and services from the point of creation to the point of consumption. This creates place and time utility because a product that is produced at one point is of very little value, to the potential customer unless available where the customer can access it. Therefore, freight transport is very important to public welfare generation. Distribution, on the other hand, can be referred to as moving the product from the stage of supply to the client stage in the chain of supply. Different networks of distribution exist such as direct shipping, retail storage, and distribution storage. Such parameters of production such as desired time of d elivery, product value, and demand determine the distribution network design to be used. This, in turn, determines the transport requirements. Freight transport’s implications include an increasing demand for shipping and delivery of goods in smaller units and a higher frequency, as well as speed and reliability. Urban freight transport consists of numerous interactions and interests. In order to achieve urban freight