Final answer:
Consolidation is the process of gathering together many smaller cargoes for transport, which is commonplace in global shipping but not commonly associated with terms like massification and atomization.
Step-by-step explanation:
The gathering together of many smaller cargoes to be transported on a ship or plane is known as consolidation. This process is a critical part of the logistics and supply chain management fields, allowing for efficiency and cost savings in the transportation of goods globally. However, the terms massification and atomization are not typically associated with trucking or rail transport. Instead, they refer to the tendencies in the global economy for some products to be mass-produced and for others to be produced in smaller quantities tailored to specific markets or customers.
In the context of global trade and transportation, cargo ships play a significant role in the process of consolidation. By combining multiple cargoes into larger shipments, businesses can take advantage of economies of scale, reducing the per-unit shipping costs and increasing efficiency. This strategy is particularly evident in today's globalization trend, where goods are transported across vast distances using various modes of transport like cargo ships, planes, trains, and trucks.
A few decades ago, economists measured the balance of trade by tracking solid or physical items transported by these methods, a measure known as the balance of physical trade. It is part of the larger concept of tracking the economic activity related to imports and exports between countries.