2. Transportation Services in the Consumer Goods Industry

Transportation has been a major component enabling trade for centuries. The physical movement of goods has historically been the basis for economic wealth and political power for states as well as for private enterprises. Consumer goods have always had a great share of total transportation demand. Fruit, coffee, tea, cocoa, tobacco or rice are distributed from their growing areas all across the globe and have gained high acceptance in areas where they are not native, due to efficient transportation (Garnett 2003). Still, never before have consumer goods moved across such long distances and in such vast quantities from their origins to their destinations as they do today. Trade and transportation have been closely linked all throughout the history of both sectors. Some of the biggest European consumer goods manufacturers have evolved from a trading background.