With the important work done in the last several years full of achievements and growth, the truck transportation and warehousing industries have provided successful relationships between manufacturers and consumers. The United States has the world's largest trucking industry, with more than 36 million trucks of all types in service. This fact has made the trucking industry a thriving business that creates employment and economic development for the country.
The industry has three mains sections: general freight trucking, specialized freight trucking and warehousing and storage. The first one supplies transportation of common commodities with motor vehicles such as trucks and tractor trailers. The second one provides over the road transportation of shipment in need of specialized equipment like flatbeds, tankers or refrigerated trailers due to size, weight, shape or other characteristics. And finally, warehousing and storage services in 2002 included 13,000 establishments. These businesses are first and foremost engaged with warehousing and storage facilities for general commodities and refrigerated goods.
In 2002, local trucking comprised of 28,000 trucking establishments. These businesses are engaged to carry goods in a single metropolitan area and its neighboring no urban areas. On the other hand, long-distance trucking comprised 41,000 establishments. These firms manage a large variety of merchandises that are hauling between distant areas such as the United States and Canada and Mexico. Sometimes, in both services the companies specialize in hauling particular commodities or materials for benefit of the most exigent customers. As general freight trucking, specialized freight trucking also is divided in local and long-distance and counts on 45,000 establishments in 2002.
Another important aspect in the trucking industry is the working conditions. The US Department of Transportation regulates the working hours and other work-related conditions of truck drivers in interstate business. In 2002, the statistics say that workers in the truck transportation industry averaged 39.7 hours a week, warehousing and storage averaged 38.5 and all private industries 33.9.
Some of the variables that truck drivers must deal with are the weather and traffic situations, fatigue or boredom. Nevertheless, improvements on roads and highways of the country have helped in reducing stress and increasing the efficiency of long-distance driving. If you want to become a truck driver, today you will enjoy several benefits that were not available in the past. Some of these improvements in the working conditions for truck drivers are such as advanced trucks operational with refrigerators, televisions and beds. Also, they have in their vehicles with modern technology that they can use for getting directions, weather reports and other communications in only a few seconds.