Transport and communication

GEOGRAPHY
© 2016 Jili'ow, Subject: Geography, Grade: 12, Instructor: Ali Jili'ow Page 1
Learning Objectives
 What is transport? And what are the available Modes of transport?
 What is communications? Methods of communication
 The role of transport and communication on development
 Factors that affect transport and communication
 World's major sea routes
Instructor: Ali Ibrahim Jili'ow
Transport is the act of moving, carrying and conveying items and people from one place to
another. Communication on the other hand refers to the process of transferring information
between individuals, groups and places. Transport and communications facilities enable people
to interact by travelling, moving commodities and spreading information.
Factors Affecting Transport and Communication Facilities
Demand and Supply ,
Demand and supply conditions influence the ability to generate traffic. Transport and
communication activities are made possible by the existence of sets of corresponding places with
surpluses and deficits. Thus, there exists a series of flows in and out of each place of goods,
services and information.
Alternative Sources
Transport and communication between places may be hindered by the existence of a suitable
alternative. This may be in the form of a nearby alternative source or market of a commodity that
is required. As such, the commodity may be obtained from or supplied to the alternative source.
Infrastructure
The availability of good infrastructural facilities such as roads, railways, airport, and telephone
facilities enable the establishment of an efficient transport and communication network.
Politics
Politics is the art of leadership that influences decision making. Politics influences transport and
communication activities through the making and implementation of certain decisions. Political
decisions affecting transport and communications operations are often based on the grounds of

GEOGRAPHY
public interest, state security, and that the government is the leading provider of transport and
communications facilities.
Canal Transport
A canal is an artificial waterway. Canals may be constructed in order to provide irrigation
water, drain a swamp, divert a river or provide a waterway. Canals as waterways may be
classified into two; large and small canals.
Large canals are normally intended to permit the passage of large ships. Such canals connect
large water bodies such as lakes, seas and oceans. The Suez and Panama canals are large. The
Suez Canal is 160 km long and connects the Mediterranean and Red seas. It shortened the sailing
distance between Europe and South East Asia. The Panama Canal is 65 km long and connects
the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean thus forming the shortest sea route from the Eastern
seaboard of North America to the Far East.
Small canals are designed to handle light traffic normally on barges. They tend to Link Rivers
and increase their connections. Small canals in Europe include:
MittelandCanal: joining Rivers Weser, Ems and Elbe,
Kiel Canal: links River Elbe to Baltic Sea.
Dortmund-Ems Canal: links River Rhine to North Seaports of Emden and Bremen,
Ludwing Canal: connects River Main (a tributary of river Rhine) to river Danube.
Albert Canal: Links Antwerp (Belgium) to the industrial areas of Sambre Meuse.
Examples of small canals in North America include:
Canals linking the Great Lakes
Soo Canal: This is also known as Sault St. Marie Canal and connects lakes Superior and Huron.
WellandCanal: This connects lakes Ontario and Erie.
Nipissing Canal: Connects Lake Huron to the Ottawa river.
Rideau Canal: Connects Lake Ontario to the Ottawa River.
Oceans and seas form a broad natural waterway that is used by over 50,000 vessels. Major sea
routes form an East-West direction while minor ones are North-South. Sea routes are most dense
in the northern hemisphere occupying a belt that is roughly 30°—60°N. This pattern of sea
routes has emerged from the following factors:

GEOGRAPHY
The northern hemisphere has over two thirds of the world's landmass, population and industries.
The heavy traffic between Asia, Europe and North America reflects the intensity of trade among
the countries of the northern hemisphere's mid-latitudes.
The world's temperatures are generally highest at the equator and lowest in Polar Regions. This
variation in temperatures shifts with the seasons of the year and affects patterns of winds and
ocean currents..
There are six major world sea routes, namely:
The North Atlantic Sea Route: This sea route links Western Europe and Eastern North America.
It is the world's busiest sea route and serves leading agricultural, industrial, commercial,
financial and transport continents.
The Mediterranean-Asiatic Sea Route: This is the world's largest single trade route. The Suez
canal, opened in 1869, is a strategic link in this international chain of destinations. This sea route
is used by ocean vessels to and from North Western Europe, the Far East, Black Sea countries,
Mediterranean countries and the Eastern sea board of Africa.
The European-Eastern South America Sea Route: This is a trans-Atlantic sea route that enables
the shipment of commodities between Europe and South American countries along the Atlantic
Ocean.
The Panama Canal Sea Route: The Panama Canal was opened in 1914. It shortened the
distance between the Eastern Coast of North America and the Western Coast of South America
and between Australia and Europe.
The Cape of Good Hope Sea Route: This sea route lost a lot of traffic to the Mediterranean-
Asiatic sea route after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1896. It serves the Eastern and Western
sea boards of Africa, Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia. Cargo ships and refrigerated
vessels prefer this route because it is cooler and less expensive.
The North Pacific Sea Route: This sea route serves the world's largest ocean. The sea route is
rapidly expanding as a result of the sudden upsurge and intensification of industrial activities in
South East and Eastern Asia, namely Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and
Singapore.
Specialization and standardization has increased cargo handling capacities. Cargo ships benefit a
lot from increased cargo handling capacities. Specialized vessels include oil tankers, grain ships
and refrigerated ships (for fishing and whaling).

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Containersation involves the use of standardized metal boxes to carry commodities;
Containerization has made cargo handling easier, faster and safer.
Large ocean liners cannot dock in certain harbours nor can they pass through some canals such
as the Suez and Panama canals. They often require special handling facilities. Passenger liners
have been replaced by the faster air transport network. Luxury tourist cruise ships and personal
yatchs are still operational. Ferries are the dominant modes of passenger transport on water..
Advantages of Water Transport
Resistance
Water transport offers less resistance to traction at moderate speeds than roads. It is relatively
frictionless.
Infrastructure
Many natural waterways such as river, lake and ocean routes adjacent to the land are navigable
to some extent without preliminary expenditure of capital or labour. These routes require limited
artificial structures, namely; ports, lighthouses and dredging.
Economical
Water transport is able to enjoy the advantages of mass haulage. Super ocean liners can carry
massive tonnages of bulky commodities such as grains at minimal cost. Water routes require
minimal maintenance such as dredging of ports and construction of lighthouses.
Disadvantages of Water Transport
Interruptions
Several waterways lack conditions favorable to all-year-round navigation. Water freezes during
winter in temperate lands is a major navigation hazard.
Obstacles
Rivers, and to some extent lakes may be obstructed by sandbars, falls, rapids and rock outcrops.
The depth of water may be sufficient for small crafts yet larger boats are required for economical
handling of passengers and freight traffic.
Limited Networks
Natural waterways are not always found in areas that require cheap transport. Excellent
waterways can sometimes be found in areas that cannot support an economical transport service.

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Rail Transport
The development of railway transport in the 19th century revolutionized transportation. This was
the time when the industrial and agrarian revolutions were emerging. Overland means of
transportation were slow and with a low carrying capacity. Speedy mass transportation provided
by the railway facilitated the revolutions in production activities.
Advantages of railway Transport.
Low Costs of Transport
Railway transport enables the movement over long distances of bulky commodities on land at
cheap rates. Railways are particularly suitable for the transportation of bulky low value com-
modities in large countries such as China, Russia, USA and Canada.
Fast Transportation
The electrification of railway systems has increased the speed of passenger trains in developed
countries. Large cities such as Tokyo, New York, London, Paris and Seoul have millions of .
people who commute daily to work. Electric trains provide an effective means that quickly
moves a large number of people into and out of large cities.
Economy of Space
Numerous vehicles share the same roads especially in large urban centres like Nairobi while a
few trains use the same rail track. Thus, trains are able to / move faster during peak hours when
traffic jams almost chock city roads. City roads are often wide, with many lanes occupying a lot
of space. On the other hand, trains occupy little space and move a large number of urban
commuters quickly.
Minimal Pollution
Modern locomotives emit very few pollutants into the environment. Diesel electric engines are
run on electricity generated by diesel generators. This enables little diesel to be used to produce a
lot of energy for hauling trains. Electric trains on the other hand use electricity from supply lines
next to the rail. Trains are therefore able to minimize environmental pollution.
Disadvantages of Railway System
Railways are not easily flexible. As a result, they are unable to offer door-to-door transport
service which is a very large portion of the transport market.
Railways cannot be laid in stages and improved as traffic increases with roads. They are laid in
totality and any change often requires the uprooting and re-laying of a whole network. The

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massive expenditure involved in such piecemeal large scale investments often hinders the
development, expansion and modernization of railway networks,
Trains are very sensitive to gradient. Steep slopes affect the upward mobility of trains. The
terrain of a place often affects its suitability to railway transport in terms of construction cost and
required locomotive energy for movement. Relief therefore plays a great role in determining the
availability of railway facilities.
Different countries and rail way organizations have different railway gauges. This often results in
transludment difficult uses when freight has to move over different railway systems.
Containerization and adjustable wheels have been used to overcome such limitations. However,
train speed and carrying capacity are determined by the railway gauges namely ;broad gauge
(1.5-1.7 meters e.g the Trans-Siberian Railway), standard gauge (1.4 metres e.g Canadian
railways), and the narrow gauge (1 metre e.g Kenya's railway network).As a general rule, the
wider the gauge the faster the trains and the heavier the load.
Railways are unevenly distributed throughout the world. The density of railways is highest in
most economically active and populous areas, namely, North America and Western Europe. The
USA has the longest railway mileage in the world followed by CIS and Canada.
Western Europe has a more closely-knit network resulting in a very high railway density. Japan
is a small island country with a very high railway density. In Africa, significant railway networks
are found in South Africa, Nigeria and Zimbabwe.
Road Transport
Road transport is the most universal mode of transport in terms of its spread and availability in
space. It appears in a wide variety of sizes, quality and classification and supports an extremely
wide variety of traffic. The widening and smoothening of road surfaces is associated with the
emergence of wheeled vehicles in the form of horse drawn chariots. Early road building is
related to the expansion of the Roman Empire. Roads were found to be necessary for effective
communication with Rome.
Large-scale road transport services developed worldwide after World War II. In most countries,
especially developing ones, early drivers were ex-world war II soldiers who had used vehicles
for military transport purposes. Today, road construction and improvement seeks to increase
traffic capacities, safety and speed.

GEOGRAPHY
Advantages of Road Transport
1) Short Distance
Road transport is suitable to the speedy transportation of small consignments over short
distances. Vehicles operated on roads are smaller and faster than trains. As a result, small
consignments can easily form a full load on road than rail. Road transport is therefore a speedy
and cheap mode of transportation over short distances.
2) Flexibility
Road networks have so many branches and connections. These enable easy re-routing of traffic
in "the event of a certain section of the network becoming impassable. A dense route network
increases the diversity of destinations. Thus, road transport serves more destinations than
railway. A diverse route network is suitable for personalized services. Individuals can own their
own vehicles and choose when, how and where to go. Road transport also permits door-to-door
deliveries.
3) Shared Traffic
Roads are shared by numerous vehicles. This enables them to share the costs of maintenance.
The large number of road operators enables individual operators to pay a relatively small
maintenance fee in the form of road licence and toll station charges.
4) Stepwise Development
Roads can be developed step by step, One may begin with a single track. Increased traffic may
lead to the track being graded to become a dust road, Further increase in traffic may lead to the
addition of murrain to make the road passable during all seasons. Finally, increased carrying
capacity, leads to strengthened bridges and the laying of a hard surface such as tarmac to form a
highway. Roads can also be improved in stages say a few kilometers at ago. Railways on the
other hand must be constructed uniformly and continuously. Cash-strapped nations are therefore
able to develop their roads network in stages as funds become available. The railway network is
difficult to expand because it requires large outlays of capital to be used in a very short period.
Disadvantages of Road Transport
a. Slackened Traffic
Road networks in large towns have numerous branches and intersections, These require the
control of traffic by permitting movement in certain sections at a time. Controlling traffic

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destroys smooth flows and leads to traffic accumulation and traffic jams. A simple network like
the railway network does not experience traffic jams.
b. Pollution
Roads are used by numerous vehicles. Each vehicle emits exhaust fumes and is noisy. A large
concentration of vehicles such as in urban centres causes air and noise pollution.
c. Accidents
Roads in urban centers tend to have a high density of vehicles. Many vehicles have a higher
likelihood of causing accidents because their movement is more frequent. Accidents pause a
great risk to human safety and property.
d. Uneconomical
Vehicles carry a few people. This leads to high transport costs per head. Road transport permits
the personalisation of travel in the form of private and official vehicles. Such transport is often
comfortable and convenient but expensive.
Air Transport
Air transport comprises all air-borne means of transportation. These include balloons, airships,
gliders and airplanes. Air transport is relatively independent of physical barriers but very
sensitive to weather condi= tions, especially pressure and temperature. Pressure influences
atmospheric air conditions and wind systems. These bear heavily on aircraft, especially low-level
flying light aircrafts. Temperature on the other hand, influences condensation in humid atmos-
phere and thus affects airport visibility conditions.
Commercial airlines emerged after World War I with the first air route being opened between
London and Paris in 1919. Since then, air transport has expanded and is most visible in national
flag carriers such as Kenya Airways. Air freight is made possible when the cargo is light,
requires speedy delivery, is small in volume and has a high value. Air cargo therefore often
comprises mail, perishables, valuables and emergency relief supplies. Passengers comprise the
bulk of air traffic. Air transport has a high accessibility capacity. The atmosphere is its. Medium
of movement This has made it useful in the mountainous plateaus of Ethiopia whose steep slopes
have limited accessibility by surface transport,
The carrying capacity of an aircraft is strictly limited. An aircraft has to carry itself in addition to
its load. This makes air transport very sensitive to weight International air traffic has been
restricted by various countries through control of landing and transit rights in their airspaces. Air

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transport is often found to be expensive. It is frequently patronized by tourists, business ex-
ecutives, government officials, pilgrims and international students.
Hot-Air Balloons
A balloon is a bag of impermeable material. When inflated with a gas that is lighter than air, it
rises and remains air-borne for as long as it is inflated. The balloon is air-lifted by hot air and
moved by the wind.
The balloon becomes part of the atmospheric wind system once it is air-borne. It moves
smoothly, silently and without pumps. Balloon pilots are able to choose the direction of flight by
changing altitude, because winds travel in different directions and different altitudes.
Pipelines
Pipelines are pipes used for transportation. Pipelines have been used in transportation from the
early days of Roman aqueducts which supplied water. Today, pipelines transport a wide variety
of commodities which include water, petroleum based liquids and gaseous commodities and
solids such as coal.
Pipelines are cheap modes of transportation that enable continuous flow and constant supply.
They are expensive to construct and maintain. Pipelines can lead to excess wastage when
damaged through disconnections or leakages. They are not ' flexible, do not serve intermediate
locations and are justified when demand and supply are constant and high.
Pipelines are the least distributed modes transport, both nationally and worldwide.
Telecommunication
Telecommunication is the act of transferring information over long distances using letters,
telegraphs, telexes, facsimile machines and the Morse code. Of all these, public telephones are
the most significant, heavily used and scattered means of long distance communication. It
provides direct, instantaneous and two way transfer of information by
speech.
Transportation media may be considered to be instruments of long distance communication
where personal visits and meetings are essential Modern telecommunication facilities have
enhanced the maximization of individual and group knowledge and information on world events.
They are basic to the efficient functioning of modern societies and facilitate the transfer of
information between individuals, institutions and places.
Lifts provide an essential vertical movement in large cities with tall buildings. They enable the
speedy movement of people within buildings. Lifts are often omitted from transport and

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communication discussions because they are localized to sped fie buildings. Ho w-ever, they
provide a very essential and speedy transport service to many people and in a narrow space
especially in cities such as Tokyo New York and Chicago.
The Role Of Transport And Communications In Development
Transport and communications facilities are among the most basic considerations that influence
the choice of the location of economic activities and regional resource exploitation. Thus,
improved transport and communications facilities increase the effectiveness of a place's potential
for economic activity.
Movement
Raw materials, finished products and people have to be mobile so as to facilitate development
activities. Raw materials are unevenly distributed in space. Often, raw materials have to be
moved from where they are found to other locations for processing. Finished products have to be
moved to markets for sale. These activities require constant movement of people, goods and
ideas.
Market Size
The area within which products can be acquired is often restricted by available transport and
communication facilities. Primitive societies had very limited transport capacities and therefore
concentrated on subsistence economic activities based on their immediate surroundings.
Improvements in transport and communications enabled mankind to know more about other
areas, engage in mass production and trade in their surpluses.
Modern transport and communications facilities have enabled the creation of world market. This
favours the expansion of regional economic bases. Where right conditions exist, transport and
communication facilities can lead to an increase in industrial, commercial, agricultural,
extractive and service activities at a place.
Service
Transport and communication are in themselves distinct economic activities. They provide
employment and income-generating opportunities to individuals. The facilities are maintained by
employees and in the course of rendering services, generate income from payments by users.
They form a vital sector of the economy that contributes to national development.
END
Ref: Geography book, Grade 12, For Somali Secondary Schools (2014)

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