As the world effectively gets smaller, due to globalisation and improvements in communication and industry, more and more goods of all descriptions need to be transported further and more frequently across the world.

Protecting these goods from the ravages of the weather, changes in humidity and temperature and the physical trials and tribulations of transportation itself is the job of transportation packaging.

Transportation packaging is the type of industrial packaging in which goods from a wide variety of industries are sent from A to B – whether that’s from the factory to the customer or from one client to another, via all methods of transportation, such as road, rail, sea or air.

As export and import of goods of all types continues to increase across the globe, demand for transportation packaging looks certain to follow suit. Indeed, experts predict that the market will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5% between 2017 and 2025.

Although the market is expected to grow across all corners of the globe, certain areas are thought to show a better rate of performance than others. In particular, the Asia Pacific market has the highest rate of growth predicted. This is due to its large shipping and logistics industry, added to its increasing rate of industrialisation in recent decades and for the foreseeable future.

The Middle East and Africa region and Latin America both have steady growth predicted for the forecasted period, while Europe is expected to see higher than average rates of growth in the near future.

Due to the fact that it enjoys a large share of the world’s shipping and cargo sectors, North America is predicted to dominate the transportation packaging market during the forecast period.

The market for transportation packaging covers a wide range of materials, including several different plastics, metals, wood, paper and cardboard, and it covers varying types of industrial packaging, including boxes, crates, barrels, cartons and containers.

Transportation packaging is required and frequently used by a large number of industries, including the automotive sector, agriculture, construction and building, food and drink, oils and lubricants, electrical goods and the pharmaceutical and chemical industry.

It therefore has a wide range of products and applications, and many different sorts of manufacturers are involved in its production.

In addition, as goods often have several different stages before the product gets to its final destination, they may require more than one type of transportation packaging on their journey from producer to final client or customer. This, of course, increases the market exponentially.

The best types of transportation packaging are therefore versatile and flexible ones, which can be used for more than one purpose.

Various innovations and inventions have been instrumental in revolutionising transportation packaging in recent years, many having the purpose of making packaging more environmentally friendly.

Creating lighter packaging which still provides the same or a better amount of protection to a product is, of course, the ‘holy grail’ of industrial packaging, as it reduces overall transportation costs while still serving the same purpose.