Hub

The term hub is synonymous with distribution centre and node. It is a central goods transshipment point where flows of goods are collected, sorted and transshipped. Even though hubs have their origins in air freight, they also exist in road transport, sea freight and rail transport.

Many modern logistics service providers with their own network operate a hub of this type, located as conveniently as possible. The aim of using a hub is to reduce transport costs, because not all locations in the network have to be connected with each other, but all routes lead to/from the main transshipment point. At the individual locations, trucks are loaded with grouped loads for different receivers and destination areas and bring them to the hub for unloading. In the distribution centre, the goods are resorted and directly reloaded. On the return trip, the trucks are only loaded with goods for the destination area of the location.