Industry: Transportation
 The transportation industry ranges from local to international transportation of planes, ships, trains, and auto-motives. Transportation includes transporting parcels as well as people from one location to the next. The transportation industry may not be the most rapidly growing industry, but it is one of the most secure industries due to the reliance of the United States on goods from overseas.
Working in the transportation industry has many perks including free travel for you and your family, however, this perk often becomes a burden if the employee feels that he is too often separated from home. Individuals working in the transportation industry complain of long work hours and being away from the home and family too much. Graveyard shifts and emergencies bring “long work hours” to another level in the transportation industry. Individuals working in the customer side of transportation must handle angry customers who have not received an important package or who are late to a business interview due to delayed flights.
The transportation industry includes trains carrying goods and travelers, buses transporting local commuters, freight trains carrying coal, ships transporting transoceanic goods, and planes carrying goods and travelers.
The transportation of travelers by plane has seen a decrease in revenue due to the 9/11 threats and increased oil prices. Many airline companies are on the verge of bankruptcy due to increased fees for heightened security policies as well as a decrease in consumer need. Cheap ticket airlines such as Jet Blue have been successful by offering fewer amenities to their travelers but offering tickets at a lower price. Employees working in the transportation industry typically must join a union in order to fight for their benefits and salaries due to companies looking to lower overhead in order to run a profitable company. However, on the positive side of the transportation industry, employees travel the world and can often bring their families for free. If you enjoy traveling, handling customer satisfaction, and don’t mind working odd work hours than the transportation industry may be ideal for you.
Ship transportation is mainly used to transfer goods from one country to the next. Commercial uses for ship transportation such as cruise lines make up a very small percentage of ships traveling the sea. Carnival cruise lines is the most popular cruise line offering travelers exotic vacations with full service meals, entertainment, and relaxation. Typically ship transportation carries petroleum across the seas with the best transportation services based outside of the United States. The advancement of technology is not only helping the shipping industry but also the logistics sector of the transportation industry.
Logistics is what makes the transportation industry run. Individuals in logistics schedule flights, map shipping routes, and coordinate all travels in order to utilize airports, docks, etc most efficiently. Knowing that their mistakes can cost lives, employees in logistics can experience high amounts of stress due to pressure on the job. However, without logistics the transportation industry would not be able to run smoothly.
No matter what sector of the transportation industry you may work in, the growth of transportation is growing slowly but steadily. Technology is changing the way transportation and shipping companies run business. 3-D graphing software and radio frequency identification technology (RFID) that will track transported goods and process the shipping data electronically. Job prospects in the transportation industry will vary from technology experts, cruise line entertainment, and airline pilots. Transportation employees need to love working with people and traveling the world.
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