ABSTRACT
The importance of the cost of transport varies with the weight, bulk and value of the goods and its exact determination in any particular industry is a matter for the economist and the accountant rather than for the planner. However, a useful rough and ready guide is provided by the annual tonnage consumed and produced per worker, modified in the case of very light or bulky materials by the weight per cubic foot. The exact tonnage in a particular factory varies within this range according to the degree of mechanization, the efficiency of the factory, the number of processes performed and so on, but this variation within an industry is within far narrower limits than the variation from industry to industry. Naturally the larger the tonnage dealt with, the greater the importance which transport assumes in location. Waterborne transport is nearly always much cheaper than rail or road for transport in bulk.
