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Transportation and Warehousing Industry Resources

Transportation & Warehousing – Sector Overview
This part gives you a quick overview of this industry sector, the number of businesses that comprise the sector broken down into large and small businesses along with a discussion about some issues and challenges facing the businesses.

Transportation & Warehousing - List of Businesses
This section provides our readers with a listing of the businesses that are categorized under this industry classification.

Transportation & Warehousing - Resource Directory
A great tool put together painstakingly by our staff that identifies the major associations and organizations that serve the various businesses in this industry classification.  Besides the name and website, you will also find a brief description about the organization.  Our small business owners always thank us for putting this tool together – we are confident that you will find it useful as well.

TRANSPORTATION & WAREHOUSING - SECTOR OVERVIEW

The first step in determining how to write a business plan at Trident Consultants involves identifying the correct business sector to which our client’s business belongs.  The transportation and warehousing services sector is a vast industry classification as per the NAICS – North American Industry Classification System.  It covers businesses like air transportation, water transportation, general freight transportation, specialized freight transportation, household and office goods moving, urban transit systems, taxi service, limousine service, charter buses, scenic and sightseeing transportation, port and harbor organizations, motor vehicle towing and many others.  (A detailed listing of transportation and warehousing businesses has been included at the end of this page.)

There are over a 380k larger businesses (with employees) in this industry sector that employ over 4.1 million people with a total payroll of $154 billion.  On average the larger transportation and warehousing firms have at least 11 employees and the average income nationally for each of these employees is about $37k.

In the small business world covering firms with no employees, there are 962k such transportation and warehousing firms with total gross receipts of $58 billion and the average annual income as reported by each firm of around $60k.

When writing a business plan for any firm in the transportation and warehousing sector the single most important element that must be mentioned is how important the cost of oil is to this sector.  As we all know the cost of oil has been moving up regularly resulting in an increase in the costs of gasoline and diesel.  A business plan must address the huge impact of this increase to the profitability and viability of any business operating in the transportation sector.  Business plans for firms operating in trucking for example must account for the increased cost of keeping these trucks operating and at what point the business owner may start passing that along to the consumer.  Sound business planning also must make some mention of forward hedging contracts that the larger firms may want to consider to lock themselves into better prices for fuel.  The cost of gasoline and diesel directly affects the profit margins of a transportation firm and it may a sound idea to have a business plan that accounts for different scenarios of inputs costs.

The availability of relatively skilled labor is yet another challenge facing the transportation and warehousing sector.  Many firms in the freight and household goods moving business for example use undocumented workers and they are now facing increased threats of fines and penalties as the federal government starts cracking down on the widespread use of undocumented workers.  By the same token firms employing cheaper undocumented workers are able to undercut their competitors since their own labor input costs are lower than those paid by firms playing by the books and paying their labor market rate along with providing for workman’s compensation and other disability benefits.  There is also a trend amongst corporate customers to want to deal with reputable transportation and warehousing contractors who do no employ undocumented workers and thus a business that does play by the books may be able to use that to their advantage as well.

Job related injury is very common in this industry sector and it affects the productivity and profitability of the firm directly.  A sound business plan must also account for some loss of labor and business due to injuries on the job and the resulting costs in disability premiums to the firm.  Spending on appropriate safety equipment for employees can also be a costly preposition and business plans should address these costs as and where possible.

Limo services depend largely on the corporate customers and thus are very vulnerable to the overall economic strength of the region and the country.  If businesses start scaling back on their corporate travel, it has a direct impact on the limo business and a good business plan must account for the state of the overall economy and also address the local economy.

If you are starting a business, or are already established but are looking to grow, secure a partner, venture capital or business loans, we would be happy to help.

TRANSPORTATION & WAREHOUSING - LIST OF BUSINESSES  

The following is a list of the various businesses that fall under this industry sector:

Air Transportation
Scheduled Air Transportation
Scheduled Passenger Air Transportation
Scheduled Freight Air Transportation
Nonscheduled Air Transportation
Nonscheduled Chartered Freight Air Transportation
Other Nonscheduled Air Transportation

Water Transportation
Deep Sea, Coastal, and Great Lakes Water Transportation
Deep Sea Freight Transportation
Deep Sea Passenger Transportation
Coastal and Great Lakes Freight Transportation
Coastal and Great Lakes Passenger Transportation
Inland Water Transportation
Inland Water Freight Transportation
Inland Water Passenger Transportation

Truck Transportation
General Freight Trucking
General Freight Trucking, Local
General Freight Trucking, Long-Distance
General Freight Trucking, Long-Distance, Truckload
General Freight Trucking, Long-Distance, Less Than Truckload
Specialized Freight Trucking
Used Household and Office Goods Moving
Specialized Freight (except Used Goods) Trucking, Local
Specialized Freight (except Used Goods) Trucking, Long-Distance

Transit and Ground Passenger Transportation
Urban Transit Systems
Mixed Mode Transit Systems
Commuter Rail Systems
Bus and Other Motor Vehicle Transit Systems
Interurban and Rural Bus Transportation
Taxi Service
Limousine Service
School and Employee Bus Transportation
Charter Bus Industry
Other Transit and Ground Passenger Transportation
Special Needs Transportation
All Other Transit and Ground Passenger Transportation

Pipeline Transportation
Pipeline Transportation of Crude Oil
Pipeline Transportation of Natural Gas
Pipeline Transportation of Refined Petroleum Products
All Other Pipeline Transportation

Scenic and Sightseeing Transportation
Scenic and Sightseeing Transportation, Land
Scenic and Sightseeing Transportation, Water
Scenic and Sightseeing Transportation, Other

Support Activities for Transportation
Airport Operations
Air Traffic Control
Other Airport Operations
Other Support Activities for Air Transportation
Support Activities for Rail Transportation
Port and Harbor Operations
Marine Cargo Handling
Navigational Services to Shipping
Other Support Activities for Water Transportation
Motor Vehicle Towing
Other Support Activities for Road Transportation
Other Support Activities for Road Transportation
Freight Transportation Arrangement
Other Support Activities for Transportation
Packing and Crating
All Other Support Activities for Transportation

Couriers and Messengers
Couriers
Local Messengers and Local Delivery

Warehousing and Storage
General Warehousing and Storage
Refrigerated Warehousing and Storage
Farm Product Warehousing and Storage
Other Warehousing and Storage