transport and trade

• Transport


  The means by which people move from one place to another
• Trade


  The movement of goods from one place to another
• Reasons why people travel

  • Work
  • Shopping
  • Healthcare
  • School
  • Leisure
  • To go abroad (study, work, leisure, medical tourism)
• Types of transport


  • Road
  • Rail
  • Sea
  • Air
• The best transportation route would be in the form of a straight line, but this is not commonly the case
• Detours


  Twists and turns in a route
• Development in transport


  Led to greater accessibility, places that were once difficult to reach became much easier to get to, improvements in transport brought about cheaper travel, increased mobility, greater choice of holiday destinations and an increase in the trade of goods
• Problems caused by transportation

  • Air, land and sea pollution
  • The destruction of landscapes, including the cutting of trees and ecosystems
• Cruise ships berthing in the Grand Harbour for 8 hours causes pollution equivalent of 300,000 cars driving from Cirkewwa to M'Xlokk
• In 2022, there were over 424,000 cars in Malta, with around 12,000 more added each year
• Main causes of traffic problems in urban areas

  • Maltese towns were not built to cater for so many cars
  • Constant increase in number of cars
• The Maltese Government's response to the traffic problem is widening roads and constructing new flyovers, which is a very short-term solution
• Different transport systems used in Malta since the 19th century

  • Kaless
  • Karozzin
  • Train
  • Tram
  • Busses
  • Private cars
  • Ferries (boats to Gozo including catamarans)
  • Helicopter
• Malta is going to ban the importation of diesel and petrol cars in favour of electric or hydrogen cars
• A Metro system was proposed for Malta, which would make travelling much more efficient
• Flying cars are a new transport innovation