As any transportation broker can tell you, the world of transportation in the United States is an incredibly important one – and one that could be considered to be quite vibrant as well. But the typical transportation broker will also tell you is that it is an industry that is rapidly changing for a number of reasons and that, in response to this, new technologies and the better implementation of technology has become more important than ever before. And this will only continue to hold true as the world of transportation continues to grow and to grow.
A transportation broker in the United States will be well aware of the fact that the industry of transportation is one that is growing at a rapid pace – it is simply undeniable. In fact, the number of tons that is expected to be transported per year is anticipated to increase to very nearly nineteen billion tons by the time that we reach the year of 2040, now just only just over twenty years in the future. In the year of 2013, to put things into sharper contrast, only around fifteen billion tons of cargo were transported throughout the entire course of this year. Even if you are not a transportation broker (as the majority of us are not) it is easy to see why the need for effective and efficient transportation management software and transportation broker software has increased quite significantly.
It’s also relevant to note how much the value of this cargo is changing as well. Not only will there be increasingly more and more of it, but the cargo that is being moved around the country is also growing in its overall worth. Back in the year of 2013, now more than five full years ago, the value of a ton of cargo was only at just over eight hundred and eighty dollars. While this is certainly not a bad amount, it is one that is expected to rise in the years to come – growing to exceed one thousand and three hundred and seventy five dollars by the time that we reach the year of 2040.
It’s also important for the typical transportation broker to understand just all that goes into the transportation industry as a whole. Primarily it is trucks, which by and large carry the most of the cargo that is transported from place to place throughout the country. In fact, trucks not only carry the largest amount of freight by tons, but by value as well. Trucks tend not to move more than seven hundred and fifty miles from location to location.
Aside from trucks, rail cars are also still used to frequently transport cargo from one part of the country to the next. And though rail cars do not transport as many goods by weight or by value, they tend to transport them for further distances. It is not uncommon for a rail car to travel more than one thousand and five hundred mile to even two thousand miles before delivering a shipment, proving that both trucks and rail cars must work in tandem to deliver the goods that are necessary and wanted all throughout the country.
And there are a huge number of these vehicles, something that all types of transportation broker software must keep track of, as this number is only likely to grow and grow in the years that are to come. In fact, there are as many as twelve million trucks, rail cars, and other such vehicles geared towards the transport of goods in the United States today, and as many as more than five and a half million (very nearly six million) people man them, providing a great many jobs to all different types of people all throughout the country.
There is no doubt about it that the world of transportation is an industry that is vast and exciting. However, it can also be a complicated one, and the use of new and developing technologies like tms systems is essential for any transportation broker who is working out of the United States, especially for the years that are to come in the world of transportation.
