Transportation
The spoke-hub model is applicable to other forms of transportation:
- Sea transport, where feeder ships transport shipping containers from different ports to a central container terminal to be loaded onto larger vessels.
- Cargo airlines; for example, most UPS Airlines flights travel through its "Worldport" at Louisville International Airport, and a significant portion of FedEx Express parcels are processed at its "SuperHub" at Memphis International Airport.
- Freight rail transport, where cargo is hauled to a central exchange terminal. At the terminal, shipping containers are loaded from one freight car to another, and classification yards (marshalling yards) are used to sort freight cars into trains and divide them according to varying destinations.
- Public transit utilizes various transport hubs to allow passengers to transfer between different lines or transportation modes.
For passenger road transport, the spoke-hub model does not apply because drivers generally take the shortest or fastest route between two points.
Read more about this topic: Spoke-hub Distribution Paradigm