If you’re looking at the importance of the transportation industry in the United States, there are many considerations to be made. After all, the transportation industry can and is utilized for a whole array of different purposes, especially when we look at the course of recent years. From less than truckload logistics to pharma logistics services, there are many ways in which the transportation industry has grown and evolved over the course of time.

Less than truckload logistics is a great example of this evolution, as the market for less than truckload logistics (LTL logistics or LTL shipping services) is already worth around $35 billion in its own right. Less than truckload logistics involving LTL freight services have become widely popular for a number of reasons, including the meteoric rise of e-commerce. Already, as a matter of fact, the yearly revenue for t the e-commerce here in the United States alone exceeds $420 billion. And in the years that are ahead, this number is predicted to grow in an exponential way.

After all, there is a great deal of convenience that comes along with online shopping. All that is required is a computer or phone, an internet connection, and somewhere to get your packaged delivered. These days, people get just about everything ordered directly to their front doors, from clothing to toys to even their groceries, something that would have been thought of as unthinkable in just the recent past. Fortunately, however, such things are now easier to obtain than ever before.

In part, this is thanks to less than truckload logistics, which largely make expedited freight services possible. And expedited shipping is much wanted here in the United States. After all, many of us have become used to the level of convenience that is unlikely to be matched without expedited shipping services. But without something like less than truckload logistics, such things would be far less likely to be possible, to be able to occur at all, in really any capacity.

And outside of less than truckload logistics and types of shipping that have been spurred on by e-commerce, there are many other types of shipping that have developed in recent years as well. For instance, trade show logistics have also become largely important. After all, trade shows themselves are growing all throughout the country. Convention centers alone have multiplied, with 20 each found in the states of Florida and California alone. And Nevada boasts a still impressive 19. As the popularity of trade shows continues to grow, so too will the need for convention centers and trade show shipments alike.

And all of the above has had a considerable change on the transportation industry as a whole, at least within the scope of the United States. For one thing, the actual length of a haul has decreased by quite a bit. The data shows a 4% drop in this distance between the short five year span between the years of 2011 and 2016 alone. In addition to this, however, the actual value of each ton of cargo has increased impressively. While a ton of cargo was worth only around $880 (just slightly over) in the year of 2013, it is expected to exceed a worth of $1,370 per ton by the time that we reach the year of 2040, which is now not so far off into the future at all. And the actual amount of cargo that is being transported is also on the rise. That same year of 2040 is expected to see very nearly 19 billion tons transported, up from a mere 15 billion tons back in 2013, the year mentioned above.

At the end of the day, there is certainly no denying the importance that the industry of transportation holds here in the United States. In recent years, this importance has certainly become more pronounced than ever before. For a great many people, the importance of things like online shopping and shipping are insurmountable, and therefore so too is the transportation industry in its entirety and should not be underestimated in any way, in any sense of the word.