The transportation industry has long been an important one here in the United States. As a matter of fact, it is an industry that is still hugely important, there is just no doubt about it. But the transportation industry, on the whole, has undergone a good deal of impressive change throughout the course of recent years. There are a number of ways in which this change can be readily seen.
For instance, we can see change in the fact that the overall amount of goods being shipped on a yearly basis has increased by an impressive amount. For instance, the year of 2013, now nearly seven years in the past, saw around 15 billion tons shipped over the course of that 12 month period. But by the time that we reach the year of 2040, now nearly just 20 years ahead of us, we are likely to see very nearly 19 billion tons being shipped over the course of that same span of time. There is no denying that this is quite the impressive amount of growth indeed.
And this is not the only way in which growth has been seen throughout this industry. In addition to the growth of the actual amount of physical tons being shipped, we have also seen – and will continue to see, for that matter – growth in the overall value of these tons shipped as well. For back in that same year of 2013, a ton of cargo was only worth about $880, if not slightly more than this number. When we reach the above mentioned year of 2040, this number is likely to have exceeded a worth of more than $1,300 per ton. And that number will only continue to increase from that point onward. Therefore, shipping goods and products have become a lucrative aspect of the transportation industry indeed.
There has also been a considerable uptick in the number of vehicles used within the transportation industry. Nowadays, in fact, there are up to 12 million in rotation, a number that is definitely impressive by just about any standards. And this has only increased the number of people employed throughout this industry, a number that has now reached and even exceeded five and a half million people – and is only likely to grow from that point forward. There is no denying, therefore, that the industry of transportation is one that has been beneficial in many ways here in the United States as a whole, something that millions upon millions of families will be able to attest to.
But why, exactly, has such immense and considerable change been noted? For one thing, there are many different ways that the transportation industry can be applied, more now than ever before. For instance, trade show shipments are becoming more and more popular. With the increase of trade shows on the whole, trade show shipments have of course increased. And trade show shipments can be found all throughout the country, as trade show locations in convention centers have also become more diverse than ever. It is most common to see trade show shipments in the states of California and Florida, where 20 convention centers exist in each, making these states the most populated by convention centers in all of the United States. Trade show shipments are not unlikely to be seen throughout the state of Nevada either, as this state still has an impressive 19 convention centers throughout it.
And e-commerce has also driven up the need for transportation services, certainly in a comparable if not even more impressive way than trade show shipments have (as important as trade show shipments are). After all, the world of e-commerce is a growing one, already bringing in more than $420 billion in revenue on a yearly basis here in the United States alone. And from expedited freight services to less than truckload shipping services (LTL shipping, as it is frequently known), it is clear that online shopping has changed the transportation industry in quite a dramatic and likely permanent way. These changes will only become more and more pronounced as the e-commerce market continues to increase.
