International Trade and Freight Distribution

Globalization, trade and freight transportation are interrelated and concern a mobility scale that spans nations and often continents. This transnational mobility is subject to many geopolitical considerations such a who controls trade routes and what forms of competition and cooperation has emerged with expanded trade relations. Processes related to economic integration, the fragmentation of production systems due to outsourcing and offshoring are interdependent and have favored to setting of global commodity chains, from the extraction of raw materials, manufacturing, to final consumption. This requires an understanding of logistics and the growing level of integration between production, distribution and consumption.