Europe vs. North America Freight Transport Systems

Europe vs. North America
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Europe vs. North America
Introduction
The global level development of the commerce system has been engineered by freight transportation, globalized trade and the global policies to a greater height. Creation of economic markets via elimination of cross border barriers and tax relief to freight and passenger movement has been a major trend exhibited in both North America and Europe in recent past. Such markets include the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which is key for the north market and the European Union (EU) which has the mandate to create strategies for both the private and governmental sectors seeking to achieve open border policies. This essay compares and contrasts freight transportation systems, globalized trade, and global policy implications between North America and Europe.
Freight Transport Systems
Numerous regulations and operational decisions create a huge difference between Europe and North America with reference to transportation networks. Freight distribution in the region can be viewed better basing on gateways, corridors, regulations, governance, hinterlands value chains, and labor attributes. Europe and North America are the two markets with trading blocs with a lot in common but also do differ greatly in terms of undertaking logistical strategies in their respective grounds. The intermodal rail terminals and logistic network differ at a greater margin in North America and Europe (Macdissi, 2009). Before deregulation, public policy prevented companies from owning firms in other models in North America and placing the mode in the hands of direct state monopoly in Europe. Previous studies have shown that transport policies in the two regions differ in that North-America has a transport policy-making use of 'big bang ' approaches whereas Europe is of another version (Rodrigue & Notteboom, 2009). The comparison reveals that the freight transportation in North America is better compared to that in Europe with regards to environmental conservation. The transport system in Europe is established with the target market being passengers whereas North America focuses on freight shipping. Road freight transport is imminently the core part in Europe while railways are a key part in North America transportation infrastructure. The use of railroads is both energy saving and economical. For instance, a train can hold double the mass of the freight it could initially carry while a passenger car cannot. This reduces the energy of the dead weight to be transported hence a reduction in transportation cost.
From organization perspective, freight railroads transportation in North America is not subsidized while in Europe railroad freight is minimally subsidized to cover half or more of the incurred costs. As such, the North American freight transportation biggest advantage is mobility. The per capita shipment of freight in the US doubles those of Europe. The level of functional division levels of freight flows also differs in Europe and North America with lower degrees of specialization in the European gateways than in the US (Rodrigue & Notteboom, 2009). With ownership in question, Europe has its operations and infrastruct...