shipping
Shipping is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo by sea, and is extended in US English to refer to transport by land or air (UK English: "carriage"). "Logistics", a term borrowed from the military environment, is also fashionably used in the same sense.
Land or "ground" shipping can be by train or by truck (UK English: lorry). In air and sea shipments, ground transport is required to take the cargo from its place of origin to the airport or seaport and then to its destination because it is not always possible to establish a production facility near ports due to limited coastlines of countries. Ground transport is typically more affordable than air, but more expensive than sea especially in developing countries like India, where inland infrastructure is not efficient.
Shipment of cargo by trucks, directly from the shipper's place to the destination, is known as a door to door shipment and more formally as multimodal transport. Trucks and trains make deliveries to sea and air ports where cargo is moved in bulk.
Much shipping is done aboard actual ships. An individual nation's fleet and the people that crew it are referred to as its merchant navy or merchant marine. Merchant shipping is like lifeblood to the world economy, carrying 90% of international trade with 102,194 commercial ships worldwide.
[edit]Terms of shipment
Harbour cranes unload cargo from a container ship at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port, Navi Mumbai, India.
Main article: Incoterm
Common trading terms used in shipping goods internationally include:
Free on board (FOB)–the exporter delivers the goods at the specified location (and on board the vessel). Costs paid by the exporter include load, lash, secure and stow the cargo, including securing cargo not to move in the ships hold, protecting the cargo from contact with the double bottom to prevent slipping, and protection against damage from condensation. For example, "FOB JNPT" means that the exporter delivers the goods to the Jawahar lal Nehru Port, India, and pays for the cargo to be loaded and secured on the ship. This term also declares that where the responsibility of shipper ends and that of buyer starts. The exporter is bound to deliver the goods at his cost and expense. In this case, the freight and other expenses for outbound traffic are borne by the importer.
Carriage and freight (now known in the US as "cost and freight")(C&F, CFR, CNF): Insurance is payable by the importer, and the exporter pays all expenses incurred in transporting the cargo from its place of origin to the port/airport and ocean freight/air freight to the port/airport of destination. For example, C&F Los Angeles (the exporter pays the ocean shipping/air freight costs to Los Angeles). most of the governments ask their exporters to trade on these terms to promote their exports worldwide such as India and China. Many of the shipping carriers (such as UPS, DHL, FedEx) offer guarantees on their delivery times. These are known as GSR guarantees or "guaranteed service refunds"; if the parcels are not delivered on time, the customer is entitled to a refund.
Carriage, insurance and freight (now known in the US as "cost, insurance and freight")(CIF): Insurance and freight are all paid by the exporter to the specified location. For example, at CIF Los Angeles, the exporter pays the ocean shipping/air freight costs to Los Angeles including the insurance of cargo. This also states that responsibility of the shipper ends at the Los Angeles port.
The term "best way" generally implies that the shipper will choose the carrier who offers the lowest rate (to the shipper) for the shipment. In some cases, however, other factors, such as better insurance or faster transit time will cause the shipper to choose an option other than the lowest bidder.
Land or "ground" shipping can be by train or by truck (UK English: lorry). In air and sea shipments, ground transport is required to take the cargo from its place of origin to the airport or seaport and then to its destination because it is not always possible to establish a production facility near ports due to limited coastlines of countries. Ground transport is typically more affordable than air, but more expensive than sea especially in developing countries like India, where inland infrastructure is not efficient.
Shipment of cargo by trucks, directly from the shipper's place to the destination, is known as a door to door shipment and more formally as multimodal transport. Trucks and trains make deliveries to sea and air ports where cargo is moved in bulk.
Much shipping is done aboard actual ships. An individual nation's fleet and the people that crew it are referred to as its merchant navy or merchant marine. Merchant shipping is like lifeblood to the world economy, carrying 90% of international trade with 102,194 commercial ships worldwide.
[edit]Terms of shipment
Harbour cranes unload cargo from a container ship at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port, Navi Mumbai, India.
Main article: Incoterm
Common trading terms used in shipping goods internationally include:
Free on board (FOB)–the exporter delivers the goods at the specified location (and on board the vessel). Costs paid by the exporter include load, lash, secure and stow the cargo, including securing cargo not to move in the ships hold, protecting the cargo from contact with the double bottom to prevent slipping, and protection against damage from condensation. For example, "FOB JNPT" means that the exporter delivers the goods to the Jawahar lal Nehru Port, India, and pays for the cargo to be loaded and secured on the ship. This term also declares that where the responsibility of shipper ends and that of buyer starts. The exporter is bound to deliver the goods at his cost and expense. In this case, the freight and other expenses for outbound traffic are borne by the importer.
Carriage and freight (now known in the US as "cost and freight")(C&F, CFR, CNF): Insurance is payable by the importer, and the exporter pays all expenses incurred in transporting the cargo from its place of origin to the port/airport and ocean freight/air freight to the port/airport of destination. For example, C&F Los Angeles (the exporter pays the ocean shipping/air freight costs to Los Angeles). most of the governments ask their exporters to trade on these terms to promote their exports worldwide such as India and China. Many of the shipping carriers (such as UPS, DHL, FedEx) offer guarantees on their delivery times. These are known as GSR guarantees or "guaranteed service refunds"; if the parcels are not delivered on time, the customer is entitled to a refund.
Carriage, insurance and freight (now known in the US as "cost, insurance and freight")(CIF): Insurance and freight are all paid by the exporter to the specified location. For example, at CIF Los Angeles, the exporter pays the ocean shipping/air freight costs to Los Angeles including the insurance of cargo. This also states that responsibility of the shipper ends at the Los Angeles port.
The term "best way" generally implies that the shipper will choose the carrier who offers the lowest rate (to the shipper) for the shipment. In some cases, however, other factors, such as better insurance or faster transit time will cause the shipper to choose an option other than the lowest bidder.
mixers
Industrial mixers
Today's market increasingly requires consistent homogeneity and short mixing times for the industrial production of ready-mix concrete, and more so for precast/prestressed concrete. This has resulted in refinement of mixing technologies for concrete production. Different styles of stationary mixers have been developed, each with its own inherent strengths targeting different parts of the concrete production market. The most common mixers used today fall into 3 categories:
Twin-shaft mixers, known for their high intensity mixing, and short mixing times. These mixers are typically used for high strength concrete, RCC and SCC, typically in batches of 2–6 m3 (2.6–7.8 cu yd).
Vertical axis mixers, most commonly used for precast and prestressed concrete. This style of mixer cleans well between batches, and is favoured for coloured concrete, smaller batches (typically 0.75–3 m3 or 0.98–3.9 cu yd), and multiple discharge points. Within this category, the Pan mixers are losing popularity to the more efficient Planetary (or counter-current) mixers as the additional mixing action helps in production of more critical concrete mixes (colour consistency, SCC, etc.).
Drum mixers (reversing drum mixer and tilting drum mixers), used where large volumes (batch sizes of 3–9 m3 or 3.9–12 cu yd) are being produced. This type of mixer dominates the ready-mixed market as it is capable of high production speeds, ideal for slump concrete, and where overall cost of production is important. Drum mixers have the lowest maintenance and operating cost of the three styles of mixers.[citation needed]
All the mixer styles have their own inherent strengths and weaknesses, and all three styles of mixers are used throughout the world to varying degrees of popularity.
[edit]Concrete mixing transport truck
Terex Advance front discharge truck with three lift axles including one tag axle
Front discharge truck cab detail
Volumetric Concrete Mixer
A rear–discharge concrete transport truck
Low-Profile Mining and Tunneling Concrete Mixer Truck
Special concrete transport trucks (in–transit mixers) are made to transport and mix concrete up to the construction site. They can be charged with dry materials and water, with the mixing occurring during transport. With this process, the material has already been mixing. The concrete mixing transport truck maintains the material's liquid state through agitation, or turning of the drum, until delivery. The interior of the drum on a concrete mixing truck is fitted with a spiral blade. In one rotational direction, the concrete is pushed deeper into the drum. This is the direction the drum is rotated while the concrete is being transported to the building site. This is known as "charging" the mixer. When the drum rotates in the other direction, the Archimedes' screw-type arrangement "discharges", or forces the concrete out of the drum. From there it may go onto chutes to guide the viscous concrete directly to the job site. If the truck cannot get close enough to the site to use the chutes, the concrete may be discharged into a concrete pump, connected to a flexible hose, or onto a conveyor belt which can be extended some distance (typically ten or more metres). A pump provides the means to move the material to precise locations, multi-floor buildings, and other distance prohibitive locations. The drum is traditionally made of steel but on some newer trucks as a weight reduction measure, fibreglass has been used.
"Rear discharge" trucks require both a driver and a "chuteman" to guide the truck and chute back and forth to place concrete in the manner suitable to the contractor. Newer "front discharge" trucks have controls inside the cab of the truck to allow the driver to move the chute in all directions. The first front discharge mixer was designed and built by Royal W. Sims of Holladay, Utah.
Concrete mixers are equipped with anywhere from two axles and up. Four, five and six axle trucks are the most common with the number being determined by the load and local legislation governing allowable loads on the road. These are necessary to distribute the load evenly and allow operation on weight restricted roads and to reduce wear and tear on normal roads. A two or three axle truck during the winter when road weight limits are reduced has no usable payload in many jurisdictions. Other areas may require expensive permits to operate. Additional axles other than those used for steering ("steers") or drivetrain ("drives") may be installed between the steers and drives or behind the drives. Mixers commonly will have multiple steering axles as well, which generally result in very large turning radii. To facilitate maneuvering the additional axles may be "lift axles" which allows them to be raised off the ground so that they do not scrub (get dragged sideways across the ground) on tight turns, or increase the vehicle's turning radius. Axles installed behind the drives are known as "tag axles" or "booster axles", and are often equipped to turn opposite to the steering axle to reduce scrubbing and automatically lift when the truck is put into a reverse gear.
Tractor trailer combination mixers where the mixer is installed on a trailer instead of a truck chassis are used in some jurisdictions, such as the province of Quebec where even 6 axle trucks would have trouble carrying a useful load.
Concrete mixers generally do not travel far from their plant, as the concrete begins to set as soon as it is in the truck. Many contractors require that the concrete be in place within 90 minutes after loading. If the truck breaks down or for some other reason the concrete hardens in the truck, workers may need to enter the barrel with jackhammers; dynamite is still occasionally used to break up hardened concrete in the barrel under certain circumstances.
Stephen Stepanian filed a patent application for the first truck mixer in 1916.[2] Trucks weigh 20,000 to 30,000 pounds (9,070 to 13,600 kg), and can carry roughly 40,000 pounds (18,100 kg) of concrete although many varying sizes of Mixer Truck are currently in use. The most common truck capacity is 8 cubic yards (6.1 m3).
Most concrete mixers in the UK are limited to a speed of 56 miles per hour (90 km/h).
[edit]Concrete mixer trailer
Today's market increasingly requires consistent homogeneity and short mixing times for the industrial production of ready-mix concrete, and more so for precast/prestressed concrete. This has resulted in refinement of mixing technologies for concrete production. Different styles of stationary mixers have been developed, each with its own inherent strengths targeting different parts of the concrete production market. The most common mixers used today fall into 3 categories:
Twin-shaft mixers, known for their high intensity mixing, and short mixing times. These mixers are typically used for high strength concrete, RCC and SCC, typically in batches of 2–6 m3 (2.6–7.8 cu yd).
Vertical axis mixers, most commonly used for precast and prestressed concrete. This style of mixer cleans well between batches, and is favoured for coloured concrete, smaller batches (typically 0.75–3 m3 or 0.98–3.9 cu yd), and multiple discharge points. Within this category, the Pan mixers are losing popularity to the more efficient Planetary (or counter-current) mixers as the additional mixing action helps in production of more critical concrete mixes (colour consistency, SCC, etc.).
Drum mixers (reversing drum mixer and tilting drum mixers), used where large volumes (batch sizes of 3–9 m3 or 3.9–12 cu yd) are being produced. This type of mixer dominates the ready-mixed market as it is capable of high production speeds, ideal for slump concrete, and where overall cost of production is important. Drum mixers have the lowest maintenance and operating cost of the three styles of mixers.[citation needed]
All the mixer styles have their own inherent strengths and weaknesses, and all three styles of mixers are used throughout the world to varying degrees of popularity.
[edit]Concrete mixing transport truck
Terex Advance front discharge truck with three lift axles including one tag axle
Front discharge truck cab detail
Volumetric Concrete Mixer
A rear–discharge concrete transport truck
Low-Profile Mining and Tunneling Concrete Mixer Truck
Special concrete transport trucks (in–transit mixers) are made to transport and mix concrete up to the construction site. They can be charged with dry materials and water, with the mixing occurring during transport. With this process, the material has already been mixing. The concrete mixing transport truck maintains the material's liquid state through agitation, or turning of the drum, until delivery. The interior of the drum on a concrete mixing truck is fitted with a spiral blade. In one rotational direction, the concrete is pushed deeper into the drum. This is the direction the drum is rotated while the concrete is being transported to the building site. This is known as "charging" the mixer. When the drum rotates in the other direction, the Archimedes' screw-type arrangement "discharges", or forces the concrete out of the drum. From there it may go onto chutes to guide the viscous concrete directly to the job site. If the truck cannot get close enough to the site to use the chutes, the concrete may be discharged into a concrete pump, connected to a flexible hose, or onto a conveyor belt which can be extended some distance (typically ten or more metres). A pump provides the means to move the material to precise locations, multi-floor buildings, and other distance prohibitive locations. The drum is traditionally made of steel but on some newer trucks as a weight reduction measure, fibreglass has been used.
"Rear discharge" trucks require both a driver and a "chuteman" to guide the truck and chute back and forth to place concrete in the manner suitable to the contractor. Newer "front discharge" trucks have controls inside the cab of the truck to allow the driver to move the chute in all directions. The first front discharge mixer was designed and built by Royal W. Sims of Holladay, Utah.
Concrete mixers are equipped with anywhere from two axles and up. Four, five and six axle trucks are the most common with the number being determined by the load and local legislation governing allowable loads on the road. These are necessary to distribute the load evenly and allow operation on weight restricted roads and to reduce wear and tear on normal roads. A two or three axle truck during the winter when road weight limits are reduced has no usable payload in many jurisdictions. Other areas may require expensive permits to operate. Additional axles other than those used for steering ("steers") or drivetrain ("drives") may be installed between the steers and drives or behind the drives. Mixers commonly will have multiple steering axles as well, which generally result in very large turning radii. To facilitate maneuvering the additional axles may be "lift axles" which allows them to be raised off the ground so that they do not scrub (get dragged sideways across the ground) on tight turns, or increase the vehicle's turning radius. Axles installed behind the drives are known as "tag axles" or "booster axles", and are often equipped to turn opposite to the steering axle to reduce scrubbing and automatically lift when the truck is put into a reverse gear.
Tractor trailer combination mixers where the mixer is installed on a trailer instead of a truck chassis are used in some jurisdictions, such as the province of Quebec where even 6 axle trucks would have trouble carrying a useful load.
Concrete mixers generally do not travel far from their plant, as the concrete begins to set as soon as it is in the truck. Many contractors require that the concrete be in place within 90 minutes after loading. If the truck breaks down or for some other reason the concrete hardens in the truck, workers may need to enter the barrel with jackhammers; dynamite is still occasionally used to break up hardened concrete in the barrel under certain circumstances.
Stephen Stepanian filed a patent application for the first truck mixer in 1916.[2] Trucks weigh 20,000 to 30,000 pounds (9,070 to 13,600 kg), and can carry roughly 40,000 pounds (18,100 kg) of concrete although many varying sizes of Mixer Truck are currently in use. The most common truck capacity is 8 cubic yards (6.1 m3).
Most concrete mixers in the UK are limited to a speed of 56 miles per hour (90 km/h).
[edit]Concrete mixer trailer
Planes
A plane or a fixed wing aircraft is an aircraft capable of flight using wings that generate lift due to the vehicle's forward airspeed and the shape of the wings. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct from rotary-wing aircraft in which the wings form a rotor mounted on a spinning shaft and ornithopters in which the wings flap in similar manner to a bird.
The wings of a fixed-wing aircraft are not necessarily rigid; kites, hang-gliders and aeroplanes using wing-warping or variable geometry are all regarded as fixed-wing aircraft.
A powered fixed-wing aircraft that gains forward thrust from an engine is typically called an aeroplane, airplane, or simply a plane. Aeroplanes include powered paragliders, powered hang gliders and some ground effect vehicles.
Unpowered fixed-wing aircraft, including free-flying gliders of various kinds and tethered kites, can use moving air to gain height.
Most fixed-wing aircraft are flown by a pilot on board the aircraft, but some are designed to be remotely or computer-controlled.
The wings of a fixed-wing aircraft are not necessarily rigid; kites, hang-gliders and aeroplanes using wing-warping or variable geometry are all regarded as fixed-wing aircraft.
A powered fixed-wing aircraft that gains forward thrust from an engine is typically called an aeroplane, airplane, or simply a plane. Aeroplanes include powered paragliders, powered hang gliders and some ground effect vehicles.
Unpowered fixed-wing aircraft, including free-flying gliders of various kinds and tethered kites, can use moving air to gain height.
Most fixed-wing aircraft are flown by a pilot on board the aircraft, but some are designed to be remotely or computer-controlled.