Shipping is an absolutely crucial part of the transportation industry, and from specialty freight to machinery transport services to anything else that might be encompassed as part of this industry and as part of this world, there are so many ways in which the transportation industry plays a hugely important role. And the industry of transportation here in the United States has seen much success in recent years. In fact, it has even been growing at a steady rate – and is likely to continue to grow and grow even more in the years that are to come.
Data backs this up, showing that in the year of 2013, an impressive fifteen billion tons of cargo was transported. While this is certainly already a considerable number, it is one that will be dwarfed by the time that we reach the year of 2040, now only just over twenty years away. By the time that the year of 2040 rolls around, it is anticipated that more than eighteen and a half billion tons of cargo will be transported per year.
And not only is the amount of cargo that is being transported increasing steadily, it’s overall value is increasing as well. While in that same year of 2013 the value of a ton of cargo was only just more than eight hundred and eighty dollars, it is expected to rise exponentially by the time we reach the year of 2040. By this date, the value of a ton of cargo will potentially exceed an impressive one thousand and three hundred and seventy five dollars, a considerable jump, to say the least.
Of course, this also means that the transportation industry as a whole will continue to grow and to thrive as well. Already, the less than truckload market (LTL shipping services) has reached a total market value of thirty five million dollars. LTL freight service have become particularly popular in the world of moving specialty freight.
Specialty freight can refer to any number of things but it is typically universal that specialty freight must be shipped and subsequently delivered in an incredibly timely fashion. And much of the increase of specialty freight can be directly tied to the growth of the world of ecommerce. And the world of ecommerce has been growing considerably, especially in the past few years as the internet has really become accessible to more and more people than ever before.
In fact, the industry of ecommerce has a current global value that now exceed four hundred and twenty billion dollars. In the years that are to come, of course, this number is only anticipated to climb higher and ever higher. There are many reasons that this is the case – and many reasons that ecommerce has had such a tremendous impact on the shipping and transportation industry of the United States, from specialty freight services to LTL shipping services as well.
For one, people simply love the great convenience of online shopping. After all, online shopping not only offers an incredibly wide array of products, but it also provides them to you more quickly than ever before. Overnight shipping and same day shipping have become immensely popular options, creating such specialty freight as discussed above and utilizing less than truckload shipping services and the need for less than truckload logistics.
And while this might have made the world of the transportation industry a little more complicated than it was before, it has been immensely positively influential in the realm of job creation. With up to twelve million various types of vehicles utilized in this industry in America alone, nearly six million people have been employed to operate them, marking a considerable increase in the employment rates of this industry than in years past.
The world of transportation – and the world of the industry of the transportation industry here in the United States – is one that is changing rapidly. The world is changing, such as through the industry of ecommerce, and so must the transportation industry change to adapt and keep up with it. However, many of these change are incredibly positive ones that will create a great deal of forward mobility for the industry as a whole.