For example, according to the Hong Kong Trade and Development Council, Hong Kong has displayed great resilience and fortitude throughout the recent world financial crisis, noting that GDP only fell by 2.8% in comparison to much larger percentages throughout the rest of the country, which is largely due to the presence of the freight industry (Business Wire, 2011, p
Freight transported via Hong Kong facilities and seaport terminals has the ability to move easily throughout the country's own river channels, or internationally through passage beyond the South China Sea into the Pacific Ocean. As the South China Sea is extremely important to world freight travel -- acquiring one-third of the world's shipping transiting through its waters -- the capacity for China to benefit from the freight industry within Hong Kong has long been noted throughout the world (McDowell, 2011, p
The rationale behind the operational differences between freight and passenger transportation systems is that whereas "each passenger is an independent decision-making unit, each load of freight must be managed from its origin to its destination" (Hofstra University, 2014). Other significant differences between freight and passenger transportation systems that ought to be taken into account when developing transportation models include; i) freight is 100% passive in nature, and would usually call for specific loading and unloading infrastructure, ii) most freight vehicles are designed specifically for the shipment of a particular goods type, iii) freight transport range from the shipment of single parcels to that of bulk items weighing thousands of tones, iv) unlike passenger transport, where decision-making is largely independent, freight transport travel itinerary is influenced by several actors including the driver, freight-forwarder and carrier, and consignor and consignee, v) in the freight transport market, transport shipment and service frequency costs often remain undefined until a prospective "sender makes an inquiry" (Friedrich, Haupt & Nokel, 2003, p
It has over 200 stations in China with plans to add 100 more, indicating that many Chinese cities remain serviced by third parties, as FedEx either lacks a station or lacks the right licensing to handle domestic deliveries. For example, significant amounts of internal air freight are done through partner Yangtze River Express, and local agents are typically used to handle domestic deliveries outside of the areas where FedEx has a license (Berman, 2014)
There are several international hubs around the world. These include Pudong (Shanghai), Dubai, Guangzhou, Osaka, Paris and Incheon (Won, 2016; FedEx, 2014)
Goods arriving from Asia land on the Pacific Coast, for example, and are shipped across the entire country, often in containers by rail. This has led to strong growth for rail in terms of capturing modal market share (Furtado, 2013)
One of the reasons is that rail in Europe is typically for passengers, and these are high speed trains that do not share lines well with freight. On North American railways, freight takes precedence (Freemark, 2011) Road has a major modal share in Europe, but sea is also stronger there than it is in the U
Both continents have a strong inbound logistics capability, with multiple major ports, and strong transportation networks to support the inbound function. These advanced freight systems link the continents strongly to global trade flows (Rodrigue & Notteboom, 2010)