Cargo

Special cranes unload cargo containers from container ships in this intermodal terminal, and load them on trucks.

In the field of transportation the term cargo refers to material carried from one place to another. Anything other than passengers is cargo, sometimes called "freight".

It is generally several times more energy effiecient to carry cargo by water than to carry it by railroad. In the 20th century a lot of cargo was carried on expressways, in large trucks, at a cost in energy effieciency. The cargo that has to be delivered most quickly is carried on cargo aircraft designed for that purpose.

In the 20th century shipping firms started to pack cargo into standard sized shipping containers. An intermodal terminal is a port where containers are unloaded from kind of vehicle, and are loaded on another. Container ports have special cranes designed to unload shipping containers from container ships, and load them on flat cars or large trucks -- or vice versa.