Enabling Global Trade above the Clouds: Restructuring Processes and Information Technology in the Transatlantic Air-Cargo Industry

Guido Schwarz
Additional contact information
Guido Schwarz: Graduate School of Geography, Clark University, 950 Main St, Worcester MA 01610, USA

Environment and Planning A, 2006, vol. 38, issue 8, 1463-1485

Abstract: Neither conventional economic geography nor transport geography have paid sufficient attention to the restructuring of the logistics industry. As anecdotal evidence mounts in the business literature about revolutionary changes taking place in the distributive sectors of the economy, more analysis from a geographic perspective is needed. Among transport modes, air cargo is unique because it is one of the backbones of global trade for many commodities. The author analyzes the transformations affecting the transatlantic (USA–Europe) air-cargo market, focusing on the changing roles of the different types of firms in the industry in performing the functions necessary for the transportation of goods by air and for processing associated information. The importance of information handling, processing, and transmittal has been amplified relative to transportation functions, redefining the interrelationship between the physical space of goods flows and the virtual space of information flows. As a result, functional integration and consolidation have become the dominant processes for future industry development, leading to market concentration and the emergence of growing cargo-hub airports.

Date: 2006
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/a3852 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:envira:v:38:y:2006:i:8:p:1463-1485

DOI: 10.1068/a3852

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Environment and Planning A
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().