Shaping Quality of Service in Freight Transport

Quality is an interdisciplinary and multidimensional concept. Systems guaranteeing quality of products and services were developed right in the ancient times. The transport service quality is defined as a set of features characterising a given transport service with respect to the transport user’s requirements and expectations. The quality of services is inseparably connected with the customer logistics quality. The customer logistics is perceived as the ability to satisfy the needs, requirements and expectations of the transport service user. An important role in the customer logistics is played, first and foremost, by the customer satisfaction related to the fulfilment of their needs and to the correctly performed service, in compliance with specific requirements. Stages of performing cargo transport services are connected inherently with the carrier or transport organizer. In a customer-oriented transport company, customers’ needs, expectations and satisfaction with the correctly performed service play a crucial role. Transport service performance is related to the appropriate process of planning, monitoring and implementing particular transport service stages. Provision of railway transport services is associated with requirements specifying the quality of provided services, benefits anticipated from the performed transport services, with the failure of cooperation with a third party and with monitoring service quality level.