Source: Transport Satellite Accounts. US Department of Transportation, 1999.

Transport Costs by Industry Type, 1999

There is a distinct difference between economic sectors, as each has a level of transport intensity. It is not surprising to find that the most transport intensive sectors involve agriculture, forestry and fishing, which are by their nature handling ponderous goods over long distances. For instance, the costs of shipping lettuce between California and New York is about $8,000 per truckload. This is related to long distance, but also to the requirement that the lettuce must be stored at constant temperatures (cold chain) between 0 and 2 degrees Celsius (33 to 35 Fahrenheit). Construction and mining share similar characteristics are ponderous products are transported. In a contemporary global setting, wholesale and retail activities are increasingly becoming transport dependent as production and consumption are separated. Information processing activities, namely finance, insurance and real estate are the least dependant on transportation.

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