Freight Transport

The word freight is used to describe the cargo on a shipment being transported from one place to another.

Freight can be transported using roadways, by railways, by waterways like canals, rivers and seas and by air.

Road freight is the most popular form of transport as it is easy to access and is also quite cheap. There are a huge variety of vehicles used to transport goods by road.



As Ireland is an island we do not have any roads to the UK or mainland Europe. This means that transport companies must use ferries to get across. This is still called road freight as the cargo never leaves the vehicle. Sometimes it is also referred to as "roll on - roll off".

Freight train
Courtesy of www.indymedia.com

There are many different types of freight train, which are used to carry many different kinds of freight, with many different types of wagon.

One of the most common types on modern railways are container trains, where containers can be lifted on and off the train by cranes and then can be loaded onto waiting trucks or ships.

Under the right circumstances, transporting freight by train is highly economic, and also more energy efficient than transporting freight by road.

Rail freight is most economic when freight is being carried in bulk and over long distances, but is less suited to short distances and small loads.

The Atlantic Dawn: Fishing and Cargo Ship

Sea going freight is loaded into specialised metal containers that can be stacked onto huge ocean going vessels like building blocks. The specialised metal containers come in three different sizes: 20 foot, 40 foot and high cube.

This is the cheapest form of transport because it takes a long time to ship but you can ship a lot in one go.

As containers are the same shape and size in every country, cranes can be used to lift them off the ships and onto waiting vehicles knowing that they will fit exactly.

Freight Transport by Air: Loading the ULD Freight on the Airplane
Image appears courtesy of Jettainer

Transport Today: Freight Transport by Air: ULD Unit Load Device Container
Image appears courtesy of Jettainer

Air freight is the most expensive form of cargo transport. Cargo is stored in the belly of the plane called the hold. Most ordinary passenger airplanes transport freight for industry along with the passengers' luggage in the hold.

The freight is stacked in ULD's (Unit Load Devices) so that they cannot move when the plane is in motion. It also means that large amounts of freight can be loaded and offloaded in one go.
Like ocean freight containers, ULD's come in only a few shapes and sizes which means that all aircraft are designed to fit them.

Pipeline : Laying Pipeline across countryside
© Bord Gáis

Pipeline : Laying Pipeline at sea
© Bord Gáis

Another way used to transport natural resources throughout the country is by pipeline.

Natural Gas which can be used for energy and heating is transported through pipelines from
gas fields at sea and abroad to homes across the country.

The pipelines are located underwater and underground.

The Bord Gáis natural gas network consists of 2,002 km of high-pressure steel Tranmission pipelines and over 9,316 km of Distribution pipelines.

Pipeline Map : Main Pipelines in Ireland 2006
© Bord Gáis

Gas is received from the Transmission network and delivered through the Distribution network to an ever increasing number of residential, business and industrial customers.

It is safer and less expensive to transport natural gas this way. Can you think of reasons why this is?