Las prestaciones según el módulo o módulos de asistencia contratados

In addition to product characteristics, important market related factors affect transportation cost/pricing. The most significant are:

1) Degree of intra-mode and inter-mode competition.

2) Location of markets, which determines the distance goods, must be transported. 3) Nature and extent of government regulation of transportation carriers

4) Balance or Imbalance of freight traffic into and out of a market 5) Seasonality of product movement

6) Whether the product domestically or internationally

Customer service is a vital component of logistics management. Which each activity of logistics management contributes to the level of service a company provides to its customers, the import of transportation on customer service is one of the most significant. The most important transportation service characteristics affecting customer service levels are:

-Dependability consistency of service -Time and transit

-Market coverage- the ability to provide door-to-door service

-Flexibility- handling of a variety of products and meeting the special needs of shippers

-Loss and damage performance

-Ability of the carrier to provide more than basic transportation service i.e. (to become part of shippers over all marketing and logistics programs)

Each mode of transport- motor, rail, air, water and pipeline- has varying service capability.

Service Choices And Performance Characteristics

The user of transportation has a wide range of services as his or her disposal all revolving around the five basic modes, the variety is almost limitless (1) The five modes maybe used in combination (2) Agencies, associations and brokers maybe

used for their indirect services (3) A single transportation mode maybe used exclusively. From among this plethora of service choices, the user must select a service or service combination that provide the best balance between the quality of service provided and the cost of the service. The task of service choice is not as forbidding as it sounds because the circumstances surrounding a particular shipping situation often reduce the choice to only a few reasonable service possibilities. To aid in solving the problem of transportation service choice, transportation service maybe viewed in terms of characteristics that are basic to all services. These criteria are: (1) Cost of service (2) Average delivery time (3) Transit time variability (4) Loss and Damage.

It is presumed that the service is available and can be supplied with a frequency that makes it attractive as a possible service choice.

Cost of service: The cost of service is simply the line-haul cost for transporting goods plus any accessorial or terminal charges for additional service provided. In the case for- hire service, the rate charged for the movement of goods between two points plus any additional charges, such as pick-up at origin, delivery at destination, insurance or the cost of preparing the goods for shipment makes up the total cost of service. When the shipper owns the service, the cost of service is an allocation of the relevant costs to the shipment in question. Relevant costs include such items as fuel, labor maintenance, depreciation of equipment and administrative costs.

Cost comparisons for the purpose of transportation-service selection must be made on the basis of actual charges that reflect the specific commodity being shipped, the distance and direction of the movement and any special handling required.

Delivery Time and Variability: There are many factors to be considered when selecting a transportation service. Repeated surveys have shown that average delivery time and delivery time variability rank at the top in importance. Delivery time is usually referred to as the average time it takes for a shipment to move from its point of origin to its destination. The different modes of transportation vary as to whether they provide direct connection between the origin and destination points, for example, shipments move on air carriers between airports and on water carriers between harbors. But for purposes of comparing carriers performance, it is best to measure delivery time 'door-to-door' even if more than one mode is involved. Although the major movement of shipment may be by rail, local pickup and delivery is often by truck if no rail sidings are available at the shipment origin and destination points.

Variability refers to the normal differences that occur between shipments by the various modes. All shipments having the same origin and destination points and moved on the same mode are not necessarily in transit for the same length of time due to the effects of weather, traffic congestion, number of stop offs, and difference in time to consolidate shipments. Transit-time variability is a measure of the uncertainty in carrier performance.

In recent years there has been renewed interest in the idea of coordinating the service of more than one transportation mode. The major feature of coordination is the free exchange of equipment between modes. For example, a truck trailer is carried abroad an airplane or a rail car is hauled by a water carrier. Such equipment interchange creates transportation services that are not available to a shipper using single transportation mode. Coordinated services are usually a compromise between the services offered by the cooperating carriers individually. That is, cost and performance characteristics rank between those of the participating carriers.

(1) Rail-truck (2) Rail-water (3) Rail-air (4) Rail-pipeline (5) Truck-air (6) Truck-water (7) Truck-pipeline (8) Water-pipeline (9) Water-air (10) Air-pipeline. Not all of these combinations are practical. Some that are feasible have gained little acceptance. Only rail truck called 'piggyback' has seen widespread use. Truck-water combinations, refereed to as 'fishy-back’, are gaining acceptance especially in the international movement of high-valued goods. To a much lesser extent truck-air and rail-water combinations are feasible but they have seen limited use.

TOFC. Trailer on flatcar or piggyback refers to transporting truck trailers on rail board flatcars, usually over long distances than trucks normally haul. TOFC is blending of the convenience and flexibility of trucking with the long haul economy of rail. The cost is less than for trucking alone and has permitted trucking to extend its range. Likewise, rail has been able to share in some traffic that normally would move by truck alone. The shipper benefits from the convenience of door-to-door service over long distances at reasonable rates. These features have made piggyback the most popular coordinated service.

Piggyback (TOFC/COFC) In piggyback service, a motor carrier trailer or a container is placed on a rail flatcar and transported from one terminal to another. Axles can be placed under the containers so a truck can deliver them. At the terminal facilities, motor carriers perform the pickup and delivery functions. Piggyback service thus combines the low movement with the flexibility and convenience of truck movement. Since 1976 shippers have increased their use of piggyback service by 200 percent. In 1994 there were 8.1million inter-modal shipments with 1995 and 1996 shipments approximating the same levels.

Truck and rail partnerships to support inter modalism such as the one begun in 1989 between the Santa Fe railroad and J.B.Hunt Transport Services are relatively common. The railroad carriers freight on the long haul and the trucking company picks up and delivers between the customer and railroad.77% of inter-modal users agree that such alliances have a positive impact on transportation options available to them. In India Konkan Railway has started this typed service.

Roadrailers. An innovative inter-modal concept was introduced in the late 1970s.Roadrailers or trailer trains as they are sometime called, combine motor and rail transport in a single piece of equipment. The road railer resembles a conventional motor carrier trailer. However the trailer has both rubber truck tires and steel rail wheels. Over highways tractor power units transport the trailers in the normal way, but instead of placing the trailer on a flatcar for rail movement, the wheels of the trailer are retracted and the trailer rides directly on the rail tracks.

The advantages of this inter-modal form of transport are that rail flatcars are not required and that the switching time to change wheels on the trailer is less than loading and unloading the trailer from the flatcar. The major disadvantages of roadrailers are the added weighted of the rail wheels, which reduces fuel efficiency and results in higher movement costs in addition to the higher cost of the equipment. The disadvantages have tended to out-weight the advantages resulting in very low usage of this Inter-modal option. If technology improvements can reduce the cost of this transport option, usage is likely to increase.

Miscellaneous inter-modal issues. Any other inter-modal combinations are possible. In international commerce for example the dominant modes of transportation are air and water. Both include Inter-modal movements through the use of containers and truck trailers. Combinations of air-sea, air-rail, truck-sea and rail-sea are used globally.

As an example 'By shipping cargo by ocean from Japan to Seattle, then transferring it to a direct flight to Europe from Seattle-Tacoma Airport. Asian exporters

reap substantial benefits. They can cut their transit times from 30 days for all water service to about 14 days and slash freight costs by up to 5 % compared with all services.