What is the difference between logistics and transportation?« Back to Questions List

I would say transportation is a subset of logistics.While transportation deals only with the physical movement of goods between origin and destination, logistics includes all activities which are required for movement of goods between origin and destination.

Logistics is a part of supply chain management; the process includes effective movement and storage of the goods combined with flow of information and management of documents. The process involves sourcing of the raw material, delivery of finished product to the last mile customer and return management.

Transportation is an integral part of the logistics which deals with the physical movement of the goods from point a to point b. There are various modes of transportation such as air, sea and road. The activities such as packaging, customs clearance, insurance & claim handling primarily falls under the scope of work for a logistic company and may not be handled by a pure transportation company.