Means of transport are, alongside energy sources, the main elements that constitute the infrastructure of a territory. This means that the development of any country or region involves the development of an efficient transport system and articulated, which allows the rapid movement of raw materials, industrial goods and, mainly, goods for internal consumption or for export. However, transport is part of what we call country cost, which is the cost of producing, so that the lower this expense, the greater the development capacity of the country in question.
The development of industrialization around the world demanded a greater performance of the transport systems, after all, to produce it is necessary to receive the raw materials quickly and, after transforming them into goods, direct them to the market as soon as possible consumer. Therefore, the means of transport are at the heart of the systems of objects and actions that constitute the process of production and transformation of geographic space.
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There are, therefore, different types of transport, which we call modals, namely: road, rail, water, sea and air. Below is a summary of the main features of each of these systems.
ROAD TRANSPORT
Highways consist of the use of paved or unpaved roads for the movement of vehicles land vehicles, notably cars and trucks, to provide a flow of people and goods. In almost all countries where road networks with a complex structure were developed, the process was associated with greater activity by the automobile industry, which includes the Brazilian case. Our country, as we know, is mostly made up of highways, due to the need or interest of the Brazilian government throughout the 20th century in attracting investments from the vehicles. At the same time, the use of this modal also intensifies the market for fuels derived from petroleum, such as gasoline and diesel, and, more recently, biofuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel.
On the other hand, the excessive or preferential use of this mode of transport can bring some negative points and increase the country cost, since the expenses with displacement are higher and the efficiency of cargo transportation is smaller. By way of comparison, a truck with one liter of diesel fuel carries about 30 tons of cargo per kilometer, whereas a train with the same amount of fuel transports about 125 tons; the waterways, in turn, transport an average of 575 tons under the same conditions. Added to these factors is the fact that maintenance costs for highways are higher and more frequently needed than the other modes mentioned.
RAIL TRANSPORT
Rail transport takes place from railway lines and is constituted by steam locomotives and also by subways. Although the costs for building railroads are high, their maintenance is cheaper and, as we mentioned above, they have greater efficiency at a lower cost compared to highways. For this reason, railroads are more recommended for transporting larger volumes of cargo, both agricultural products and heavy loads. Until the 20th century, the steam train was the most modern means of transport known and, even today, it plays an important role all over the world.
Many countries of continental dimensions make great use of railroads, like the United States United States, Canada and Australia, as they are able to integrate large distances terrestrial. In Brazil, although the highway policy has contributed to the abandonment of many railroads, they also carry out the function of transporting cargo, mainly grain. In fact, there is a consensus that, for the country to develop better, it needs to increase the rail infrastructure in order to intensify the efficiency in exports and in the flow of production.
WATER AND MARITIME TRANSPORT
The two means of water transport are the maritime, which uses the sea and oceans, and the waterway or fluvial, which operates on rivers.
In countries with a large territorial extension and formed by a large hydrographic network, there is a great advantage in using waterway transport as it represents more efficiency and lower costs. In plain rivers, naturally suitable for boats, costs are minimal since very few adaptations are necessary for navigation. On the other hand, rivers on the plateau, which are more rugged, often demand the creation of so-called locks and other works for adaptation and navigation, which has become easier due to technological developments.
Maritime transport, in turn, is classified into two different types: cabotage, in which navigation takes place between points coastal or between a point on the coast and a point on the river, and the long haul, which involves navigation between ports of countries different. This modal, in addition to the smooth functioning of the ships, also needs the best efficiency of the port system, which captures the goods in containers and insert them into vessels. In Brazil, existing bureaucratic and structural problems leave ports among the main “bottlenecks” for the country's economic development.
AIR TRANSPORT
Air transport is considered the most advanced and, at the same time, the fastest and safest modal in the world. today, transporting both a large number of people and an immense volume of goods and objects. It is considered a flexible system, as it allows displacement both within a country and between different nations, involving great distances and close locations.
The development of air transport in a country demands a better structure at airports, both in terms of better condition its operation, as well as its ability to capture a large volume of cargo and meet the requirements techniques. Another concern is to adapt its capacity to carry out international flights, which is considered a problem in the geographical space of Brazil, where only a few airports have flights to a large number of destinations international.
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It is important to consider, above all means of transport, that they have their respective advantages and disadvantages. In this way, a correct development of a country permeates not only the installation of modes that adapt to the social and geological characteristics of its geographic space, but also by an integration between the different systems. Thus, the ideal model is the intermodal transport or multimodal, the one capable of integrating, in a quick, logical and efficient way, all transport systems, whether land, water or air.
By Rodolfo F. Alves Pena
Master in Geography