9.0:TRANSPORT

 

9.0:TRANSPORT

The concept of transport

Transport refers to the physical movement of people, goods and services from one place to another.

It is important link of different parts of the world.

Transport is mainly key role for economic growth and development in any country because make easily mobility of people for doing various activities in economic and social development.

Types of transport

a)      Land transport

b)      Water transport

c)      Air transport

Land transport

This involves the movement of people,goods and services from one place to another on the land.

Land transport is categorized as follows;

v  Human transport

v  Animal transport

v  road transport

v  railway transport

v  Pipeline transport

Human transport

It is means of transport where by a person carries a goods or services from place to another. A person can carry a goods to his or her shoulders, head, backs or hold it through using hands.

Sometimes they can use wheelbarrow for any case of goods movement.

Advantages of human transport

·       It available easier. It involves human himself if has no any disability

·       It is safe than other means of transport. For example road transport may cause accident

·       It is cheap. Human transport does not cost money or fuel because depends on human feets

·       It is flexible. A person can reach even remoteness area to compare with other means of transport

·       It does not pollute environment

·       It complements other means of transport like roads and railways

Disadvantages of human transport

·       It is slow. Human being has no speed as the way car or train move.

·       It cannot carry heavy or bulky goods

·       It depends only on person physical strength and health

Animal transport

It means of transport used to transport goods and people from one place to another by animals. Such as camel and donkey. This means of transport mostly is used in desert and mountainous area where other means of transport cannot be accessed.

Advantages of animal transport

·       It is faster than human transport

·       It carries heavy goods

·       It can be used in area where human transport cannot reach.

Disadvantages of animal transport

·       It cannot used to carries heavy goods as road transport does such as vehicles

·       It is not faster than road transport

Road transport

Is means of transport that connect one place to another on the earth surface. It is common means of transport used over the world.

There are different types of road transport which are weathered road and dry road.

Weathered roads are those used even rain season for example tarmac road while dry road are those used during dry season.

Advantages of road transport

·       It is flexible. Road transport connect different part of the world

·       It is cheaper than other means of transport like airway

·       It complements other means of transport. Such as air transport and water transport

·       It can be used while is still constructed or maintained.

·       It is faster than other means of transport like human transport and animals transport.

Disadvantages of road transport

·       It has high accident rate.

·       It pollute environment.motorcycle and vehicle emit harmful gases to the environment.

·       It is affected by congestion. This problem leads people delaying to their activities.

·       It is easily affected by weather conditions. Such as rainfall hinder transportation system.

·       It can handle limited number of goods and people to compare with railway transport

Railway transport

This is means of transport from one place to another by using trains.

This is second most important means of transport after road transport.

Railway transport carries many people and goods at once compared to other means of transport.

Trains are of two main categories; passenger trains and cargo trains

Passenger trains carry people and limited goods while cargo trains carry large quantities of goods from one place to another.

In East Africa there are several railways; Zambia railway authority (TAZARA) covering 1067 km connecting Dar es salaam to Kapiri mposhi in Zambia.

Tanzania railway cooperation covering 2600 km from Dar es salaam to Kigoma and mwanza

Standard gauge from Dar es salaam running to Morogoro 300km, Morogoro to Dodoma 426km, Dodoma to Mwanza 655km.

Another railway from kenya to kigali Rwanda 1500km.

Advantages of railway transport

·       Once has constructed mantainance cost are low and not frequent as road transport.

·       It carries both heavy and bulky goods as well as many passengers.

·       Mdern passanger trains are very fast. They could travell about 200km/ hour.

·       Railway lines operate according to schedule. It helps traveller to plan their activities in advance.

·       It is very cheap. Heavy and bulky goods could transported in low cost and also passenger fees is not high like road transport.

·       There are goods facilities like bathroom, cafe and sleeping space.

Disadvantages of railway transport

·       It is expensive in construction

·       It is slow means of transport. Except bullet trains

·       It is not flexible. It has specific ways, there is no door to door railway service

·       Railway transport relies to other means of transport. All goods or people when reach their destination should take other means of transport.

Pipeline transport

Refers to the carrying of liquid and gaseous products such as petroleum, natural gas, water and milk for a long distance through pipes.

For example distribution of water to residential and commercial area.

Distribution of petroleum in various part of the countries, for example Tanzania- Zambia mafuta that run from Dar es salaam to Ndola Zambia covering 1700 km. And another pipeline from Mnazi bay in Mtwara to Kinyerezi in Dar es salaam.

Advantages of pipelines transport

·       It does not pollute environment.

·       Pipeline transport is not affected by weather. Other means of transport like road transport can be affected by weather condition especially rainfall season

·       It has low risk of theft and accident. Pipes are installed underground which reduces the possibility of theft and also accident as road transport which cause accident due to vehicles collision and falling.

·       It has low cost in mantainance.

·       Pipeline transport is not affected by congestion. Therefore is fast means of transport.

Disadvantages of pipeline transport

·       Pipeline transport is expensive. It demands high cost to construct all project.

·       Pipeline can only transport fluids,such as gas and liquid. It cannot used to transport solid materials like maize or fruits.

·       It is not flexible. Pipeline needs other means of transport to complement the demand of end user. For example vehicle should bring oils from pipeline station to the end users.

Air transport

This is movement of goods and people from one place to another through air.

Air transport is a fastest means of transport which could travel for a long distance in a short period of time.

It connect different part of the world through air means. Air transport uses different types of aircraft such as cargo aircraft, passanger aircraft and helcopters.

Some of airport in East Africa includes Julius Nyerere international airport, Kilimanjaro international airport  in Tanzania and Kenyeta international airport in Nairobi Kenya.

Air transport is categorized into domestic and international. Domestic air transport is movement bases with a country while international air transport is movement across different countries.

Advantages of air transport

·       It is not affected by physical barrier like mountain, rivers and Forest.

·       Air transport is fast. It is suitable for transportation of perishable goods as well as sick people.

·       Air transport is flexible. This means of transport can travel anywhere or change direction without any obstruction.

·       It is comfortable means of transport. Make people feel joyful because there is no disturbance of congestion, quick stopping like road transport.

·       It helps to rescue people from various disaster. For example tsunami, earthquake and fire outbreak.

Disadvantages of air transport

·       It is not suitable for carring heavy and bulky goods

·       It easily affected by weather condition

·       It need high trained personnel

·       It is expensive. Buying aeroplane and airport construction cost huge amount of money.

·       It depends other means of transport to complement the movement.

·       It can loose high number of people and properties in case of accident.

·       It experience hijacking and terrorist attack.

Water transport

is the movement of goods and passenger through waterways through various means such as ships and boats. There are two types water transport which are inland and ocean transport.

Inland transport involves movement of people and goods over inland water bodies such as lakes, rivers and canals

Ocean transport involves movement of people and goods over the ocens. Sometime ocean transport is known as sea transport.

Advantages of water transport

·       It is suitable for transportation of heavy and bulky goods for a long distance.

·       There is minimal congestion

·       It is not expensive. Now days people import goods from chine through water transport because is cheap to compare with airway

·       Some cargo ships are designed to transport specific types of cargo. For example petroleum and foodstuffs

Disadvantages of water transport

·       It is slowest means of transport

·       It is affected by climatic changes

·       Modern shipping vessels are expensive

·       It is not flexible. It is limited only in area with water bodies.

Pattern of major transport system

Transport system in East Africa mainly is connect Urban centres, and Urban centers connect in productive areas.

Main road connect urban centers to rural area through several feeders roads that connect main road.

Countries connect through roads such as kenya to Tanzania, and Tanzania to Zambia.

Railway and roads connect to airport and sea port and inland ports. This is because roads and railway complement air and water transport.

Importance of transport industry in East Africa

·       Creation of employment opportunity

·       Promotion of international relations. Through links of roads railway and airway encourage mobility that improve relations of various countries.

·       Enhance trade activities. Due to good network system people interact each other for business purposes. Such as Tanzania to Zambia

·       Facilities movement during natural calamities and emergency

·       It promotes tourism growth . Tourism sector depends on well developed transport network for easy mobility of foreigner.

·       Facilities availability of goods to customers. Transport system encourage transportation of goods to customers even for a long distance as an example people are doing business with Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania

·       Ensure availability of raw materials to industry

·       Improve living standard of the people

Challenges facing the transport industry in East Africa

·       Lack of capital. There is no enough money to invest in transport sectors hence building of non quality infrastructure.

·       Rising of fuel cost. Increase of fuel price leads to the increase bus fees which hinder transportation system. Tanzania government try to find alternative of energy especially gas while it is high cost to change vehicle system to use gas.

·       Lack of skilled labour. Developing countries depending on importation of experts from foreign countries which hinder accomplishment of task at a certain time. There is high demand of experts in East Africa.

·       Political problems. Transportation sectors faced by political boundaries. Sometime countries engage in conflict due to crossing border restrictions.

·       Physical barrier such as montain. This hinder the construction of roads because needs high capital and technology to destroy mountain or to build a good road across those barriers.

·       Inappropriate national policy and implementation. There is absence of agreement between investors and government and also instinct motivation and effort to transport development is not implemented.

·       Poor transport network connectivity. There are inaccessibility of some area where roads, railway or airway are not built for example in Tanzania there is no network connectivity within a country that need people to move around to find way of reaching certain place.

·       Poor transport safety and security.

Measures to address transport challenges in Tanzania

·       Formulation of laws and policy. The government to formulate laws and policy that can be implemented frequently. And also to make a good agreements with investors for developing infrastructure.

·       Seeking financial assistance from develoed countries

·       To develop infrastructure to ensure transport network connectivity

·       Development of trained personnel. Presence of experts encourage for building good infrastructure like roads and also they can control all means transport from driving and mantainance.

·       To ensure transport safety and security. Through initiative of road camera for speed control and check up of old vehicles which should not used for transportation

·       Environmental impact assessment. Any project should be assessed to ensure that there is no negative impact to environment