Correlates of Transport Mode Choice: Dry Commodity Movement. A Case of Malawi.

Abstract

Goods from Malawi face a range of challenges in competing on the international market which in part, is as a result of high transportation costs. Despite rail transportation being cheaper than road transportation, Malawi commodity shippers prefer the latter, thus affecting the pricing of the goods on the market. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to investigate the correlates of transport modal choices and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was used to guide the study. The study employed quantitative approach and descriptive research design in which a questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of 104 respondents in a population of 141 dry commodity shippers by using simple random probability sampling technique. The key objective of the study was to determine the correlates of transport modal choice in Malawi. The study found that shipment travel time, freight costs, transport mode availability and transport service reliability had a relationship with transport modal choices that shippers made. The study therefore recommends that transport service providers should endeavor take into account these correlates for proper transport planning and management.