Planning, preparing and writing Transport Statements or Transport Assessment Reports is the core business activity for transport planning consultants. These reports are mainly needed to accompany planning applications in cases where the development proposals may have an effect on the public highway.In the first instance, after receiving instruction to proceed, and as long as the proposals are not secret, the transport planning consultant (or Highways Consultant) will approach the local Highway Authority and discuss the scheme in general and scope the parameters required to carry out the project. This will have the advantage of not only getting to know the Highway Officer involved, by agreeing whether the transport evidence required need only be in the form of a Transport Statement, a requirement for smaller developments, or the lengthier and more in depth Transport Assessment Report.In addition, scoping the development proposals with the Highways Officer will agree what parameters or information would be required in the report as well as getting an early indication as to what are the local issues and what sort of contributions, if any the Highways Authority would look for. This should result in saving time later on once the Application is submitted and reports sent to the client who can then raise issues and make comments.When carrying out the highway study, the Highways Consultant will generally follow the typical 4 stage model approach. This is where the consultant will look at the developments likely traffic generation, secondly look at how the traffic distributes across the highway network. Next the consultant will consider the modal split of the traffic, such as the split between types of vehicle (car, bus, cycle etc) as well as considering pedestrians or any other mode of transport, and finally to assign the traffic to the local highway network.By following the 4 stage model, the Highways Consultant will have a good prediction of travel characteristics of the development proposals. By comparing these with what is currently happening on the local highway network, this may need traffic surveys to get a present day snapshot, The consultants can assess the significance of the additional development traffic, if any, would have on the operation of the local highway network for the opening year of the development proposals or the design year which could be a number of years ahead.However, if there is no significant impact then there may be no need for any off-site highway works, but if there is a significant impact then the highways consultant can assess and advise the Client on what highway works will need to be carried out, such as junction improvements or road widening. Any such highway schemes would then require a Road Safety Audit, carried out by an independent highway consultancy.In some instances the impact of additional development traffic could be mitigated by encouraging the developments end users to make fewer car journeys by car sharing, promoting cycle, bus and pedestrian forms of travel. In such cases the consultant would prepare a separate document called a Travel Plan which would bring all this information as well as advising on how to monitor the effectiveness of the Travel Plan and identify targets for the end users to achieve.After all the above information has been prepared, the consultant will continue to liaise with the local Highway Authority in order to discuss any other issues or concerns that may arise with the aim to get the Highways Officer to recommend the scheme to the Planning Officer.

Not only businesses, but sometimes people also, require the fast and efficient shipment of different packages, which can be time consuming, difficult and rather expensive, especially when trying to manage the supply chain for international shipments, when trying to deliver hazardous packages or objects with odd shapes. That is why many people choose to entrust this task to transport logistics company, that can manage the supply chain, offer various shipping services (overland, air and ocean freight, charter, intermodal, warehousing), as well as other services such as customs brokerage, consulting (finding the right shipping strategy, developing a logistical plan to save you time and money, customized logistic solutions).In this article, we are going to talk about a few of the options a transport logistic company can offer and how they can make your life easier. There are a lot of companies that focus on this industry, so it is important to understand your options in order to make the best choice possible.The majority of these companies offer a full package of services, like those we mentioned before. However, there are some companies that are active in the transportation logistics field, but offer only a part of these services, making it important for you to determine just how many of them you truly need.We are going to begin with the courier services offered by transportation logistic companies. Many of them are resellers of courier services, meaning that letter services can sometimes be smaller than those of the original courier service.Now we are going to talk about the air freight service, a service offered by many transportation logistics companies and requested by many clients. Let’s say you have to urgently send a package and you don’t want to spend the big amounts of money by sending it overnight with FedEx or UPS. If sending it is so urgent that using an overland delivery is out of the question, the only choice is to send it by air freight. Many transport logistics companies can send your package via air cargo. They are going to place your package on the cargo flight that are scheduled to take off, but are not already full. This way, you can make sure that even the most heavy of packages reaches its destination, however far away it may be.A third service that is highly requested, due to the fact that it has proven to be one of the most cost efficient of all delivery methods, is ocean transit. However, if you rely a great deal on the timeliness of the delivery, sending packages through ocean cargo shipments may prove inefficient, because ocean shipment depend a great deal on weather conditions, the chosen route and other factors.Lastly, we are going to talk about charter. If you company needs to make shipments that are very large, the most practical and cost efficient solution may be renting a chart. Many transportation logistics companies have connections with charter shipping partners and can facilitate such a process, allowing their clients to save great amounts of money.If you want to find out more about other services, such as intermodal deliveries, warehousing or customs brokerage, don’t hesitate to go on the sites of transportation logistics companies and make an extensive research.

Travelling by air can be extremely tiring and exhausting for most people. Moreover, waiting for cabs in long queues after landing from a long, tiring flight can be overly strenuous and painful. Having a chauffeur driven car waiting at the airport to pick you up can be highly comfortable and luxurious. A relaxing ride in a luxurious car without having to bother about driving can ease out all your strains and exhaustions. However, it is important to choose the most reliable airport transportation services for the most efficient services. Here are some of the important factors that you must consider while hiring a reputed transportation service:Safety Aspects: Safety is the most important thing that needs to be considered while choosing a transportation service. It is extremely important that the company you hire must be able to provide you adequate safety. Some of the safety factors that you need to consider are:

The company is insured.

They provide vehicles that are in excellent condition.

They provide chauffeurs who are trained, experienced and courteous.
Experience and Expertise of the Company: It is extremely important that the company you choose to hire have adequate experience in the field. Airport transportation involves dropping you off and picking you up to and from airports on time. This requires keeping track of the flight timings in order to avoid any kind of delay or inconvenience. Reputed and reliable airport transportation services should use high-end technologies to keep track of any changes in the flight timings to ensure that they pick you up and drop you off absolutely on time. Moreover, the chauffeurs should have adequate expertise and knowledge of the roads to provide you a smooth, comfortable and hassle-free ride to and from the airport.Clearing Concerns: Always make sure that you ask all necessary questions to clear every possible concern you might have regarding the services of the company. For example, you must obtain detailed information regarding the terms and conditions of the transportation service you choose to hire. You must know thoroughly the kind and quality of services they are capable of providing. Remember, it is always more important to find a service that can efficiently cater to your specific travelling needs. It is not always true that you should choose the best service in the market. The secret of obtaining the most efficient service is to hire the service that’s most appropriate for you, and not the one that’s known to be the best in the market.Flexibility to Time: Flight timings are subject to change due to a number of reasons. The airport transportation service you hire must have the flexibility to adjust their services according to the timings of your flight. They should not have problems, providing your services even if your flight arrives early or gets postponed for several hours. They must be reliable and efficient enough to drop you at the airport on time and pick you up on time as well.Corporate Services: In case you have to travel by air for business purposes on a regular basis, it is advisable to find a transportation service that offers attractive deals and discounts for corporate clients.