ABSTRACT
Introduction and overview The extent and nature of freight movement around the planet presents a number of challenges for sustainable transportation – and for sustainability itself. There is increasing recognition that the freight transport system has been growing in size, complexity and the externalization of its social and environmental impacts, and is less sustainable (see Box 1.1 in Chapter 1 for a snapshot of the magnitude of freight mobility). The growth in volume of raw materials and goods puts an ever increasing strain on infrastructure and pressure to provide new facilities in a manner analogous to passenger transportation. Coupled with this volume growth is an increase in the distances that raw materials and goods get moved, which increases the amount of energy that must be expended and the pollution generated by our economic system. Figures 5.1a and 5.1b show the tremendous growth in tonne kilometres (tkm) (the product of weight of goods multiplied by the distance travelled) for both the US and the European Union since 1970. Note that despite the smaller population, the US has over double the volume of movement by all modes combined, part of which can be explained by longer transport distances. Note also the ominous decline in usage of the railroad within the European Union.
