{"id":2750,"date":"2017-10-15T20:32:26","date_gmt":"2017-10-15T18:32:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.revistaitransporte.com\/?p=2750"},"modified":"2017-10-19T10:26:22","modified_gmt":"2017-10-19T08:26:22","slug":"logical-logistics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revistaitransporte.com\/logical-logistics\/","title":{"rendered":"Logical logistics"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you feed your pet, buy a bouquet of fresh flowers, dress a salad or fill up your vehicle, you are at the end of a long chain that could have begun far away. Some products \u2013certainly those such as flowers\u2013 will have arrived from their place of origin by air; others, such as salt, animal feed or fuel, may have arrived by sea, road or rail.<\/p>\n

But in all cases, in order to satisfy the needs of the end consumer, these products need to travel through the supply chain in the best conditions of safety and quality, and in the shortest time possible. The World Trade Organization emphasizes that logistics is particularly crucial \u201cfor the electronics and pharmaceutical sectors, fashion garments and motor vehicles, where time is an important factor.\u201d<\/p>\n

The logistics chain covers various economic sectors and all stages of production and distribution, from the supply of raw material to the arrival of the finished product to the end consumer. In this complex network land, sea and air transport infrastructure is especially important, and they must also be interconnected as efficiently as possible. This is the function of transport centres, the hubs of the supply chain: they receive large volumes of goods and are modal interchange points, where the cargo goes from one mode of transport to another, from one phase of the supply chain to another; for example, bulk cargo is packaged, if it is solid, or distributed in trucks or tankers if it is liquid.<\/p>\n

Located at road and rail nodes, airports and ports, logistics facilities can provide different services, depending on the type of centre in question: from simple modal interchange to services for the storage, distribution and consolidation of goods (bringing together cargo from different suppliers that has the same destination reduces costs), sanitary control and customs, labelling, packaging, parking, administrative management, electronic traceability, procedures and permits, etc.<\/p>\n

In order for the transport chain to flow, and keep logistics costs \u2013which according to the World Trade Organization can account for 20% of the total cost of production in the countries of the OECD\u2013 from going through the roof, logistics areas and terminals must have sufficient capacity to meet the demand and be strategically situated in the territory, as well as correctly dimensioned and managed. Since these are large and complex facilities, they require major investment to build them or to expand existing ones.<\/p>\n

But this is only the first step: the key is to determine whether they will be profitable in the long term, which requires the rigorous analysis of all foreseeable costs, expenses and revenue. To do this, several factors must be taken into account, such as estimated traffic, land prices and financial formulas, among other things, which will reveal whether the project will be profitable or not. Hence the relevance of this type of study, covering operational, technical, economic and financial aspects, as a basic decision-making tool for project developers, both public and private.<\/p>\n