Advantages And Disadvantages Of Boat Shipping

By James Cole


Ship transport is a type of watercraft that would carry people or the passengers and goods or the cargo. Ever since in the history, this has become the largest freight carrier. Even though its importance for people has decreased because of aviation, this is still very useful for some short trips and for pleasure cruises. If compared to air transportation, this is cheaper.

Ship transports are being used with barges, sailboats, ships, or boat to any distances through lakes and oceans, and even on rivers and canals. Other purposes of these may include the military, commerce, or recreation purposes. Almost all materials and goods can be moved using the boat shipping. This may only be impractical whenever the transported goods are perishable such as foods.

However, the transport is cost effective. The cost efficiency of its construction and its maintenance is due to the small amount that is needed for the investment. The cargoes can be rescheduled. Examples for these cargoes would include consumer products such as bulk loads and heavy loads like grains, ores, coke, or coal. This transportation type became one of the significant roles in order to bring the parts closer into any places in the world.

The following paragraphs are its pros and cons. Its first advantage is the lower cost. Because it passes on lakes, oceans, and rivers which are some of the natural highways, you will not need to spend for the costs of its maintenance and construction. Inland and ocean transport are the two primary types for water transportation. One that is considered as cheapest for the carrying of goods due to having low operations.

It also has a very large capacity, and thus, it can be able to carry large quantities of both bulky and heavy loads like coal, timber, etc. The services are flexible if compared to railways and this means that the requirements may be changed or adjusted from time to time. And lastly, it has a lower risks for accidents compared to other forms of transports.

The following are the disadvantages on this. First is it has a lower speed. The speed factor will more likely affect the process of carrying the goods especially if time is considered as an important factor. Another disadvantage is its operation may only happen in a particular area which is limited.

And sometimes, it cannot be operated due to the changes in season, specifically, during winter season since rivers and canals may freeze and if it is summer, the level of water may be very low. There are times when the river will have some changes in its course, thus, it may cause the dislocation of the trade route. Lastly, this is not suited for small businesses because of the longer time that it would take on carrying the goods.

An ocean transport has 2 different types which include overseas shipping and coastal shipping. These also have some advantages that include requiring only small amounts for the investment because operations take place only on a natural track. The tractive power also has lesser amount because of the seas smooth surface.

Reducing the risks for damages is also an advantage. These transportation are suitable also for moving goods into distant places. These are indispensable also to foreign trades.




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