Investigating and Weighing the Importance of Transport Mode Choice Factors: Dry-Cargo Shipping. A Case of Malawi (original) (raw)
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2023
For several years, a modal shift from road to rail transport has been promoted by policymakers and industry experts as it is believed that this move would provide a basis for achieving lower transportation costs. Malawi's main goal is to reduce transportation costs and ensure that transport does not constrain its economy and the achievement of this strategic objective would be by facilitating a modal shift from road to rail transport. While all these efforts are being made, there is still not much to trigger the modal shift. This study therefore, focused on understanding the freight modal split between road and rail and went further to establish the reasons why shippers choose a particular mode of transport for their shipments. A descriptive research design within quantitative methodology was employed. Using a simple random sampling technique, 84 participants were recruited for this study. The finding of the study revealed that 87 percent of shippers use road transport because it provides a shorter shipment delivery window, reliable transport service, and availability. It is therefore recommended that the government should invest to revitalize rail transportation to make it more efficient.
Correlates of Transport Mode Choice: Dry Commodity Movement. A Case of Malawi
2023
Goods from Malawi face a range of challenges in competing on the international market which in part, is as a result of high transportation costs. Despite rail transportation being cheaper than road transportation, Malawi commodity shippers prefer the latter, thus affecting the pricing of the goods on the market. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to investigate the correlates of transport modal choices and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was used to guide the study. The study employed quantitative approach and descriptive research design in which a questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of 104 respondents in a population of 141 dry commodity shippers by using simple random probability sampling technique. The key objective of the study was to determine the correlates of transport modal choice in Malawi. The study found that shipment travel time, freight costs, transport mode availability and transport service reliability had a relationship with transport modal choices that shippers made. The study therefore recommends that transport service providers should endeavor take into account these correlates for proper transport planning and management.
Journal of Transport and Supply Chain Management
As few studies have been conducted in freight transport research in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region; this paper provides empirical results on two research questions that allows the understanding of the freight procurement landscape in SADC. Firstly, who the decision maker is in terms of freight mode choice, and secondly, which modal attributes are consider and in which order, when shippers make mode choice decisions. Method: An online survey was conducted with 86 shippers, freight forwarders and thirdparty logistics parties across the SADC region to address modal attributes in freight mode choice. The exploded logit model was developed to draw inference from the data. Results: The results confirm that freight mode choice decisions are mostly affected by the shipper, with the freight forwarder being typically employed as the advisor. In terms of modal attributes, the results of an exploded logit model revealed that the top five attributes in terms of importance are reliability with reference to arriving on time, transport cost, risk of damage, frequency of service and transit time. Conclusion: These results can inform freight studies, especially shipper behavioural studies, which require the enumeration of attributes that can lead to improved reliable studies on freight transport.
Shippers’ Choice Behaviour in Choosing Transport Mode: The Case of South East Asia (SEA) Region
The Asian Journal of Shipping and Logistics, 2017
Using South East Asia as a case study, shippers’ choice of transport modes taking into consideration their economic and environmental impacts was examined in this research. A triangulation of both quantitative and qualitative methods was deployed. First, a quantitative analysis using secondary data was conducted to establish the index score, which includes four quantitative factors (transport distance, cost, time, and CO2 emission), for each transport mode. In addition, in order to examine at what level of the importance weight shippers would change their decision on transport mode, a sensitivity analysis involving the four aforesaid factors was also conducted. Next, an in-depth interview with a major shipper in Singapore was also carried out to qualitatively validate the aforesaid four quantitative factors as well as two additional qualitative factors, namely, customer service and shipper-forwarder relationship in relation to shipper’s choice. The results from this study indicate that shippers might change to the short-sea shipping (SSS) mode when the importance weights of cost and CO2 emission increase, and to trucking mode when the weight of time decreases. It was also found that cost is the most important factor when shippers choose carriers/forwarders, whereas CO2 emission is not an important factor at the current stage. However, if the government imposes financial measures such as fine and/or tax for CO2 emission, shippers would choose eco-friendlier transport modes. This research is the first study considering the environmental issue as one of important factors that influence shippers’ choice behaviour. This research also facilitates managers’ understanding on how shippers may select LSPs taking into account important factors including the environmental consideration.
Monetary values of freight transport quality attributes: A sample of Tanzanian firms
Journal of Transport Geography, 2011
This paper presents the findings of a stated preference research conducted in Tanzania (East Africa). The objective of the survey was to determine the relative importance as well as monetary values attached to freight transport quality attribute by shippers in this region. In-depth interviews with the logistic managers of companies that produce and ship goods were conducted. The freight transport quality attributes considered in this survey were flexibility, frequency, loss and damage, reliability, and transit time. The monetary values of these attributes have been computed as willingness to pay for their improvement as well as willingness to accept compensation for a decrease in their quality. The results show that shippers in this region consider travel time, loss and damage and frequency as the most important quality attributes. This may have relevant implications for the infrastructural transport policies to be implemented in the country.
ANALYZING THE DETERMINANTS OF CHOICE OF MODE FOR FREIGHT TRANSPORT IN APAPA SEAPORT
Journal of Science, Technology, Mathematics and Education (JOSTMED), 2022
Over the years, global trade and intermodal freight transport continue to be significant. Freights are transported in Nigeria majorly by road transports which negatively affect the best practice of intermodal freight transportation. Mode choice is very paramount in freight transportation. The freight forwarders' preference on choice of mode has greater influence on accessibility as they make decision for freight haulage. This study therefore analyses the underlying factors that influences the choice of modes for cargo distribution at Apapa Port, Nigeria. The primary data was obtained through the administration of questionnaires designed to gather relevant information. 156 freight forwarding organizations were sampled on factors influencing choice of modes for freight haulage, and the operational challenges experienced during freight haulage by road and rail transport. The data were analyzed using frequency distribution, t-test and ANOVA statistics. The result revealed accessibility of mode (14.2%), safety and security of cargo (12.93%), reliability of mode (11.64%), frequency of mode (9.87%), and transit time (speed) (8.77%) respectively were the major factors influencing modal choice. Further findings using ANOVA test result revealed a statistically significant difference in the mean rating of the factors that influences choice of mode for haulage as the F-value showed Fcal = 149.706> Fcrit = 1.84; df = 10, 1606; p < 0.05 at 0.05 level of significance in favor of accessibility. The t-test conducted on comparison of the mean scores on the operational challenges facing road and rail freight haulage at Apapa port revealed no statistically significant difference between the mean scores on the operational challenges facing road freight haulage (87.08) and the mean scores facing rail freight haulage (47.50) as the t-value showed tcal = 1.676< tcrit = 2.201; df = 11; p >0.05 at 0.05 level of significance. It is therefore, recommended that distance regulation should be encouraged to limit the distance or route over which a given mode could operate especially for road transportation to eliminate the dominant use of road transport for long haul. Also, modal choice in cargo haulage should be given more attention by policy makers for the better understanding of the various determinants that possibly influences choice of modes.
Analysis of transport logistics challenges affecting freight forwarding operations in Malawi
Malawi is one of the landlocked countries within sub-Saharan Africa which faces serious challenges in managing her transport logistics. The provision of predictable, reliable and cost effective transport logistics is constrained due to deficiencies in road and rail infrastructure, inefficient port and transit border operations that contribute to very high transport cost. This study was undertaken to analyse the challenges facing the transport logistics industry in sub-Saharan Africa specifically Malawi. Data was solicited from a structured questionnaire that was circulated to purposely selected members from the population of the business community with expertise in transport logistics. Results from the study are also supported by literature and indicated tha t high transport cost, deficiencies in road and rail infrastructure, inefficient port and transit border delays pose serious challenges to transport logistics.
International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation, 2024
While transportation is considered as a trade facilitator in international trade, high transportation costs can adversely impact on commodity pricing and its competiveness on the market. Studies have shown that raising transportation costs by 10 percent reduces trade volume by more than 20 percent. The purpose of this study was therefore, to understand the impact that transportation cost has on pricing of goods from Malawi in international trade. The study sought to establish transportation costs affordability perception from export commodity shippers and assess how transportation cost affects commodity pricing on the international market. The study employed quantitative research approach and descriptive research design in which a closed-ended questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of 104 shippers in dry-commodity export shipping community. Simple random sampling method was used to determine the sample size. The study found that shippers do not find transportation costs affordable and that the high transportation costs affect negatively the pricing of the goods on the market. The study therefore recommends that government, through the Ministry of Transport and Public Works, to develop logistics cost estimation model and invest in logistics management systems that will enable the industry to collect data, identify bottlenecks and improve the transport system to reduce transportation cost.
2017
The Government of Ethiopia introduced multimodal transport system with the intention of providing seamless logistics services with reduced transaction cost. The reviews of literature show that the implementation of multimodal transport system in Ethiopia have been hindered by various problems. These problems include poor existing infrastructure and lack of basic infrastructures, congestion of dry ports, inefficient and ineffective freight vehicles, long and inefficient custom clearance process and lack of competition in multimodal transport. This study was made with the main objective of assessing the performance of multimodal transport service in Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Services Enterprise in relation to time, cost effectiveness and reliability. Primary data were collected from 138 customers and two managements through interview. Out of the 138 questionnaires distributed all the 138 questionnaires were successfully returned back. Descriptive analysis method was used to cal...