Transportation costs
Transport costs are costs that arise from the transport of goods or personnel .
General
Transportation costs are a cost element that by the transport means of transport or transport is caused. Transport is necessary because the goods are manufactured or stored in a location where consumers are not located. Therefore, if the goods are manufactured or stored in the consumer's home region, transport costs are lower or nonexistent. The majority of the specialist literature does not count transport costs as transaction costs , but treats them as an independent cost type alongside transaction costs and production costs .
A distinction must consider when purchasing of production materials transport costs ( acquisition expenses ) and costs of internal transport, both a part of the production costs form and the actual transport costs associated with sales incurred by the products.
species
Transport costs are divided into transport tariffs for people ( buses , trains , ferries , planes , ships , trams or taxis ) and for goods ( freight costs ). These transport costs shall consist notably of depreciation on the vehicle fleet , insurance premiums ( transport insurance ), maintenance - and repair costs , freight costs , toll charges , personnel costs for private transport personnel, drayage , transit costs , energy costs , interest expense and pro rata space and management costs .
Legal issues
In the freight business the transport costs are in accordance with § 407 para. 2 HGB as cargo referred to, which always the sender has to bear, and that in the delivery of the goods ( § 420 , para. 1 HGB).
The Incoterms or franking determine which transport costs the seller ( exporter ) and what the buyer ( importer ) has to bear and who in the event of loss or damage to the goods, the transport risk transfers ( transfer of risk ). Except for the "ex works " collection clause and the group F dispatch clauses, the seller bears the transport costs. With " free domicile " the seller pays all transport costs, with the frequent clauses CIF (the exporter bears the transport costs to the import port) and FOB (the exporter pays the loading fees in the export port) the transport costs are shared.
Economics
In 1826 Johann Heinrich von Thünen developed the Thünenschen Rings named after him , an ideal-typical model in which the transport costs have a major influence on agricultural land use . "Since the transport costs increase with increasing distance from the market, products must be produced to the outside world that cause low transport costs in relation to their value".
According to Alfred Weber (1909), the three location factors transport costs, labor costs and agglomeration advantages influence the choice of location, with transport costs playing a central role in Weber's system. They are the most important factor in determining the optimal location. Paul Samuelson was 1952 assumes that a constant fraction of the goods to be transported would be lost during transport, it melt like an iceberg ( English iceberg ).
According to Paul Krugman, transport costs can be reduced by specializing in the production of those goods for which the respective home markets are greatest. Due to the monopoly competition and the transport costs, both the supplier and the buyer have market power .
Traditional foreign trade theory tends to neglect transport costs, although they are an obstacle for importers when comparable domestic products have lower transport costs and the market price is lower. In the New Economic Geography, however, transport costs influence trade relations and the distribution of economic activity to a significant extent . In the standard model ( core-periphery model ) of New Economic Geography, falling transport costs lead to greater regional unequal distribution, some important profitable core points are formed on which economic activity is increasingly concentrated, while other localities become deserted in their economic activity.
economic aspects
Transport costs are part of the distribution costs . Cost-influencing factors of the transport costs are the lot size (quantity) of the transported goods , its nature, the type of transport and the distance between sender and recipient . The more cargo to be transported, the higher the transport costs as a rule. The nature of the transported decides on the transport means ( containerized cargo , bulk liquid , hazardous goods , bulk goods , frozen foods ). The type of means of transport concerns the transport of goods as road freight transport , rail freight transport , cargo shipping or air cargo transport . Appropriate means of transport are trucks , freight trains , inland and seagoing vessels and cargo planes . The longer the transport routes are (especially for export / import), the higher the transport costs - with the same means of transport. A cost reduction is always possible if the cost influencing factors can be improved, for example by using more economical means of transport, without increasing the transport risks.
In trade between industrialized countries, transport costs add an average of 21% to the manufacturing costs . Transport costs are low in industrialized countries . In developing countries, on the other hand, transport is usually associated with high costs, which is related to a poorly developed transport infrastructure , long transport routes and poorly developed transport services.
- Transport costs
The proportions of variable and fixed costs are different for different modes of transport . Trucks can usually use the public roads free of charge. Furthermore, trucks can be purchased cheaply, so that the proportion of fixed costs is only around 10%. The fixed costs for rail transport are significantly higher because there is usually no track or transport container. The fixed costs for shipping are particularly high , since port facilities and new ships are expensive.
As a result, road traffic is cheapest on short and medium-sized routes. Railways and especially ships only make sense over long distances. With intermodal transport , an attempt is made to use the advantages of the individual modes of transport.
Special features for international deliveries
Transports Internationaux Routiers (TIR)
Transports Internationaux Routiers is a transit system designed to reduce the administrative burden of customs controls. It is currently valid for the 56 participating countries. With the procedure, the freight is only cleared through customs in the country of departure and destination.
Triangular deals within the EU
In intra-community triangular transactions within the EU, only the last buyer is subject to sales tax under certain conditions ( § 25 letter b UStG ).
Web links
literature
- Literature on transport costs in the catalog of the German National Library
Individual evidence
- ↑ Oliver Farhauer / Alexandra Kröll, Location Theories : Regional and Urban Economics in Theory and Practice , 2013, p. 211
- ^ Douglas W. Allen, What Are Transaction Costs? , in. Research in Law and Economics vol. 14, 1991, p. 4
- ↑ Harald Ehrmann, Logistik , 2012, p. 381
- ↑ Johann Heinrich von Thünen, The isolated state in relation to agriculture and national economy , 1826, p. 12
- ↑ Alfred Weber, On the location of industries, first part: Pure theory of location , 1909, p. 16 ff.
- ^ Paul Samuelson, The Transfer Problem and Transport Costs , in: Economic Journal vol. 64, 1852, pp. 264-289
- ^ Paul Krugman, Scale Economies, Product Differentiation, and the Pattern of Trade , 1980, pp. 950 ff.
- ^ Paul Krugman, Scale Economies, Product Differentiation, and the Pattern of Trade , 1980, p. 955
- ^ Gianmarco Ottaviano / Jacques-François Thisse, New Economic Geography: what about the N? , Louvain University (ed.), CORE Discussion Paper , 2004
- ↑ Karl Morasch / Florian Bartholomae, Trade and Competition on Global Markets , 2017, p. 27
- ^ Helmut Nuhn / Markus Hesse, Traffic Geography . Schöningh, Paderborn [a. a.] 2006, p. 275, ISBN 3-8252-2687-5
- ^ Helmut Nuhn / Markus Hesse, Traffic Geography . Schöningh, Paderborn [a. a.] 2006, pp. 277 f., ISBN 3-8252-2687-5
