The transport geography of logistics and freight distribution

By M. Hesse, J.P. Rodrigue. 2004

908 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract Goods movement and freight distribution are widely underrepresented in regional science and geographical research. This is surprising since a large body of traditional spatial theory has been developed with respect to transportation costs or to trade areas: those aspects that were originally closely connected with the exchange of goods. Growing attention is being paid in geography to related subjects, such as the emergence of global production networks, to structural changes in retail or to the commodification of modern consumption. To a certain extent, these processes depend upon the efficient transfer of information, finance and physical goods. Yet, with a few exceptions, the freight sector appears to be neglected in contemporary research. This paper provides an overview of the emerging transport geography of logistics and freight distribution. It challenges the traditional perspective where transportation is considered as a derived demand with the idea that logistical requirements underline transportation as a component of an integrated demand. The paper provides an analysis of the evolution of logistics as it pertains to the core dimensions of transport geography (flows, nodes/locations and networks). The concept of logistical friction is also introduced to illustrate the inclusion of the multidimensional notion of impedance in integrated freight transport demand.

Subfields: Building and Construction, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Transportation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/ed0058b81b5f6517fa426580aeae7b88ccac96bf

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Citations in the corpus

Capital’s logistical fix: Accumulation, globalization, and the survival of capitalism (2018, background): “The ascension of logistics has inspired a diverse body of research in areas such as transportation geography (Hesse and Rodrigue, 2004, 2006; Rodrigue and Notteboom, 2009), global production networks (Coe et al., 2004; Dicken et al., 2001; Henderson et al., 2002; Yeung and Coe, 2014), and cargo…”
Concentration and decentralization: The new geography of freight distribution in US metropolitan areas (2010, background): “"[T]he activity space of main ports is increasingly becoming relocated to low cost locations reaching far beyond traditional terminal sites and connecting more distant places of their hinterlands" (Hesse and Rodrigue, 2004).”
Port regionalization: towards a new phase in port development (2005, background): “International supply chains have become complex and logistics models evolve continuously as a result of influences and factors such as globalization and expansion into new markets, mass customization in response to product and market segmentation, lean manufacturing practices and associated shifts i”
Land Use Change, Spatial Interaction, and Sustainable Development in the Metropolitan Urban Areas, South Sulawesi Province, Indonesia (2020, background): “Logistics and freight distribution, as a transport paradigm, require a view of this multidimensional concept to include four core elements, namely the traditional transport costs, but also the organization of the supply chain, and the transactional and physical environments in which freight dis-dist”
Rethinking the Port (2006, background): “We conclude with the alleged need to `reconnect' transport with economic geographies, as some have recently proposed through such themes as `logistics' (Hesse and Rodrigue, 2004)öless from a thematic necessity but more from epistemological possibilities.”
Transportation and the Geographical and Functional Integration of Global Production Networks (2006, background): “The increasing reliance on logistics is changing this conventional perspective about freight transport demand, implying that transportation is more closely integrated to supply chains than previously accounted (Hesse and Rodrigue, 2004; Rodrigue, 2006).”
Global production networks: realizing the potential (2008, background): “2003b, 2007, Hall et al. 2006; Hesse and Rodrigue 2004, 2006; Leinbach”