In logistics systems, transport plays a very significant role. It is one of the fundamental links in the logistics chain. Transport processes occur everywhere when moving cargo between a production plant, a warehouse, and a customer. Internal transport occurs within production plants, between production departments, and in warehouses.
With the development of societies, the demand for various forms of moving people and goods is growing. It is estimated that in logistics processes, transport accounts for about 80% of all logistics functions. Transport is an activity whose main task is to move cargo from one place to another. From an economic point of view, it is the performance of transport tasks for remuneration, the result of which is to be the transport of people and materials, as well as the provision of additional services related to these transports. Transport services have a significant impact on the activities of all sectors of the national economy. Globalization and far-reaching specialization generate demand for transport services. Its share in the total costs of logistics services is also significant. Therefore, the use of appropriate transport technologies is a very important issue. Unfortunately, transport processes do not remain without impact on our environment. Technological development creates new opportunities to limit harmful effects on the natural environment. Individual branches of transport, due to technical and technological conditions, have a different impact on the environment. In this regard, a number of studies and analyses have been carried out, which clearly show that road transport is the most unfriendly to the environment. According to analyses conducted by employees of the Cracow University of Technology, in OECD countries (the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, bringing together highly developed countries), road transport is the largest source of environmental pollution; 15,000 different types of chemical compounds as a side effect of this branch of transport pollute our environment. Road transport vehicles are responsible for the following percentage of total emissions of harmful substances:
– 63% of nitrogen oxides,
– 50% of organic chemical substances,
– 80% of carbon monoxide,
– 10 – 25% of particulate matter suspended in the air,
– 6.5% of sulfur dioxide. Analyzing road transport in terms of transport categories, freight transport certainly has the most adverse impact on our environment. This is influenced by many factors, which certainly include the technical condition of vehicles, traffic intensity, and frequent cases of overloading beyond the standard load.
In passenger transport, public transport vehicles are more environmentally friendly. For example, a modern bus, which emits only slightly more exhaust fumes than a passenger car, carries on average as many people as 70 cars in the city and 30 cars outside the city. During peak hours, the average number of people transported is even higher.
Pollution emitted by road transport does not only concern the roads themselves. Some of the emitted exhaust fumes and dust settle even at a significant distance from the road. Studies have shown that although the level of pollutants contained in the soil gradually decreases at a distance of 50 m from the road, soils are polluted even up to a distance of 500 m from it. Our roads most often run through residential areas, and inns and shopping centers are built along the roads. In the vicinity of large parking lots, the concentration of pollution increases rapidly, exceeding even 40 times the level for ordinary streets. Arable fields are adjacent to roads running through rural areas, but protective belts are not used, as this would significantly affect their construction and operating costs.
The article comes from the magazine “Logistyka” 4/2009.