Transportation has long been a hugely important industry here in the United States, there is simply no doubting or denying this fact. However, the transportation industry of the United States has grown quite remarkably in recent years as the demand for various and even new types of transportation have increased. From overweight shipping to less than truckload shipping (often known, more simply, as LTL shipping), the transportation industry (primarily the trucking industry) has had to grow and change considerably to meet these demands. And the success of this growth is clear, as the LTL shipping industry alone is now worth at least $35 billion, a number that is only likely to continue to grow in the years that are to come.

Additional data that has been gathered on the transportation industry of the United States more than supports this claim. After all, the sheer value that is being transported is expected to grow in quite the exponential way in the years that are to come. For instance, a ton of cargo was worth just over $880 per ton back in the year of 2013, now more than five years in the past. By the time that we reach the year of 2040, however, now just over two decades away from our current date, this value per ton is expected to increase so much as to exceed $1,370.

And the actual sheer amount to cargo being transported within the United States has been found to be on the rise as well. After all, up to nearly 19 billion tons of cargo are expected to be transported within the United States by the time that we reach the same year of 2040. Back in the year of 2013, to put things in comparison, only around 15 billion tons of cargo were being transported within this same span of time. This was a considerable amount of cargo in and of itself, of course, but a number that was destined to continue to grow ever higher as time continued to pass on. It’s important to note that even after that year of 2040 in our not so distant future, the industry of transportation is still likely to continue to grow, at least here in the United States.

There are many specific aspects of the transportation industry that have continued to grow as well. After all, overweight shipping has become commonplace, and overweight shipping services are certainly not alone in this growth. As important as overweight shipping services are, trade show shipments have grown in addition to these overweight shipping services. And also in addition to overweight shipping services has been the growth of the opposite of these overweight shipping services in less than truckload shipping (again, LTL).

But what has caused this growth, this uptick in the need for overweight shipping and LTL shipping alike? Much of it can actually be traced directly back to the growth of e-commerce. After all, there is certainly no denying the consistent impact that e-commerce has had on the world as we know it – and the impact that can be seen especially here in the United States. For many people, e-commerce has made life incredibly easier, and it’s a market that is already worth more than $420 billion here in the United States alone. In the years that are to come, this number, this total value, is only likely to increase not only in the United States, but on a universal and global scale as well.

This has actually helped to create a great deal of work for transportation employees all throughout the country. In fact, there are now more than five and a half million vehicles used in the industry of transportation in the United States. For those nearly six million vehicles, there are 12 million drivers and other such transport professionals ready and waiting to man them. With the need for things like LTL shipping and overweight shipping more in demand than it has truly ever been before – at least here in the United States – the need for drivers is also quite high indeed.