Transportation, Communication, and International Trade

Transport

• A service for carrying people and goods.
• Modes: land, water, air, and pipelines.
• Transportation is an organized service industry that satisfies society's basic needs, which promote cooperation and unity among scattered peoples.
• A transport network includes places joined by routes.
• The mode of transport depends on the goods, costs, and availability.

Land Transport

• Early methods: humans, animals, carts, and wagons.
• Invention of the steam engine in the 18th century: Railway lines opened in 1825
• Internal combustion engine: revolutionized road transport.
• New developments: Pipelines, ropeways, and cableways.
• Expensive means: human porter, pack animal, cart or wagon.

Roads

• Economical for short distances, offer door-to-door service.
• Quality differs between developed and developing countries.
• Highways connect distant places, crucial for trade and tourism ($80$ m wide).
• Traffic congestion is a major issue in cities.

Highways

• Metalled roads connecting distant places.
• Designed for unobstructed vehicular movement.

Border Roads

• Roads along international boundaries integrate remote areas and provide defence.

Railways

• For bulky goods and passengers over long distances.
• Vary in gauges: broad (more than $1.5$ m), standard ($1.44$ m), meter ($1$ m), and smaller.
• Commuter trains are more and more popular in highly urbanized areas.

Trans-Continental Railways

• Run across continents, linking two ends for economic and political reasons.
• Trans-Siberian Railway:
  • Runs from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok (Asia's most important route).
  • Double-tracked and electrified.
• Trans-Canadian Railways:
  • Halifax to Vancouver.
  • Connects industrial regions with wheat and forest areas.
• The Union and Pacific Railway:
  • Connects New York to San Francisco.
• The Australian Trans-Continental Railway:
  • Perth to Sydney.
• The Orient Express:
  • Paris to Istanbul.

Water Transport

• Doesn't require route construction, cheaper than land transport.
• Divided into sea routes and inland waterways.

Sea Routes

• Oceans offer a smooth highway.

• Cheaper for bulky material over long distances.

• Passenger and cargo ships are well-equipped.

• Use of containers for cargo handling.

• Northern Atlantic Sea Route:

  • Connects North-eastern U.S.A. and North-western Europe.
  • Called the Big Trunk Route.

• The Mediterranean-Indian Ocean Sea Route:

  • Passes through the Old World.
  • Suez Canal reduced distance and time.

• The Cape of Good Hope Sea Route:

  • Connects Western Europe with West Africa, South Africa.

• The Southern Atlantic Sea Route:

  • Connects West European and West African countries with Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay.

• The North Pacific Sea Route:

  • Vancouver and Yokohama and reduces the travelling distance by half.

• The South Pacific Sea Route:

  • Connects Western Europe and North America with Australia, New Zealand and the scattered Pacific islands via the Panama Canal.

Coastal Shipping

• Convenient in countries with long coastlines.

Shipping Canals

• Vital for global commerce.
• The Suez Canal:
  • Links the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea.
  • Constructed in 1869 in Egypt.
  • Reduces Europe a new gateway to the Indian Ocean and reduces direct sea-route distance between Liverpool and Colombo compared to the Cape of Good Hope
• The Panama Canal:
  • Connects the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.
  • Constructed across the Panama Isthmus.
  • Increases the distance between New York and San Francisco by $13,000$ km by sea.

Inland Waterways

• Rivers, canals, lakes, and coastal areas.
• Dependent on navigability, water flow, and transport technology.
• Rhine: Navigable for $700$ km, connects industrial areas which connects the industrial areas of Switzerland.
• Danube: Serves Eastern Europe exporting wheat, maize, timber, and machinery.
• Volga: Provides a navigable waterway of $11,200$ km Russia's most important.
• Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway: Commercial waterway in North America.
• Mississippi: Connects the U.S.A. interior with the Gulf of Mexico.

Air Transport

• Fastest means of transport for long distances.
• Airway Strategic importance.
• Has strategic importance.
• Developed in industrialised countries.
• Requires infrastructure like hangars, landing, fuelling.
• Inter-Continental Air Routes:
  • East-west belt in the Northern Hemisphere.
  • Dense networks in Eastern U.S.A., Western Europe, and Southeast Asia.

Pipelines

• Used to transport liquids and gases like water, petroleum, and natural gas.
• Dense network in U.S.A.

Communications

• Telegraph and telephone were important for long-distance communications.
• Optic fiber cables (OFC) for data transmission.
• Satellite Communication:
  • Connects remote areas.
• Cyber Space - Internet:
  • World of electronic computerised space.
    Expanding economic and social space through e-mail, e-commerce, and e-governance.