Transportation & Logistics

Worldwide car sales grew to around 75.3 million automobiles in 2023, up from around 67.3 million units in 2022. Throughout 2020 and 2021, the sector experienced a downward trend on the back of a slowing global economy, while COVID-19 and the Russian war on Ukraine contributed to shortages in the automotive semiconductor industry and further supply chain disruptions in 2022. Despite these challenges, 2023 sales surpassed pre-pandemic levels and are forecast to keep rising through 2024

Covid-19 hits car demand It had been estimated pre-pandemic that international car sales were on track to reach 80 million. While 2023 sales are still far away from that goal, this was the first year were car sales exceeded pre-pandemic values. The automotive market faced various challenges in 2023, including supply shortages, automotive layoffs, and strikes in North America. However, despite these hurdles, the North American market was among the fastest-growing regions that year, along with Eastern Europe and Asia, as auto sales in these regions increased year-on-year.

Chinese market recovers After years of double-digit growth, China's economy began to lose steam in 2022, and recovery has been slow through 2023. China was the largest automobile market based on sales with around 25.8 million units in 2023. However, monthly car sales in China were in free-fall in April 2022 partly due to shortages, fears over a looming recession, and the country grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic. By June of that same year, monthly sales in China were closer to those recorded in 2021.

Latin America has the largest global daily ridership of bus rapid transit (BRT). Nearly 21 million people use BRT daily in Latin America, more than twice as many daily passengers as recorded in Asia, which has the second highest number of BRT riders.

In 2021, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the estimated number of scheduled passengers boarded by the global airline industry amounted to just over 2.2 billion people. This represents a 50 percent loss in global air passenger traffic compared to 2019.

Airline passenger traffic The number of scheduled passengers handled by the global airline industry has increased in all but one of the last decade. Scheduled passengers refer to the number of passengers who have booked a flight with a commercial airline. Excluded are passengers on charter flights, whereby an entire plane is booked by a private group. In 2019, the Asia Pacific region had the highest share of airline passenger traffic accounting for one third of the global total. The region also includes the busiest air routes.

Reasons for growth Three main reasons are generally cited to explain the ongoing global growth in air travel. First is the increase in low-cost carriers, who have almost doubled their market share over the last 15 years. Second is the growth of the global middle class, especially in China. Both these developments have increased the number of consumers able to afford air travel. Finally, there is also the growth in airport infrastructure spending, led by the Asia Pacific region, which has increased the global carrying capacity.

Some 18 million battery electric vehicles (BEVs) were in use globally in 2022. That year, around 7.3 million new battery electric vehicles were added to the worldwide fleet, steadily growing since 2016.

Electric vehicle demand gains steam In light of tightening environmental regulations and increasing worldwide acceptance of electric transmission vehicles, a growing number of automakers intend to tap into the market for electric vehicles. Consumers' car purchasing intention followed suit as the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to increasing environmental awareness. The world's best-selling battery-electric vehicle is Tesla's Model Y, the fourth best-selling passenger car worldwide in 2022. California-based Tesla Motors was among the first carmakers to assemble electric vehicles exclusively. In 2022, Tesla delivered more than 1.3 million vehicles worldwide.

Power grid charging challenges Government agencies have been introducing limits on carbon dioxide emissions worldwide to address more significant environmental concerns. Car manufacturers are expected to be penalized if they fail to meet these limits. However, concerns have been raised regarding the sources of electricity employed to power electric cars and how materials used in car batteries are generally not taken into consideration when it comes to calculating a vehicle's carbon footprint. On the consumer level, the regular power grid was the leading power source drivers in various countries reported intending to use to charge their EVs due to its accessibility compared to alternative power sources. Challenges are, therefore, still ahead for the BEV market.

The global ride-sharing market is expected to grow to by more than 40 percent between 2023 and 2028. The market value is expected to amount around 216 billion U.S. dollars in 2028. DiDi, Uber, and Lyft are among the key players in this industry.

The ride-sharing market’s rapid growth is being fueled by several key factors: Consumers, particularly younger adults, seek to avoid the large overhead costs of car ownership. It is expected that ride-sharing will be most popular in cities where vehicle ownership is not only costly but also less practical due to traffic congestion and limited parking. Ride-sharing’s reach has been enabled by widespread smartphone use and mobility apps are particularly popular in India and China, making mobility services likely to see large revenue streams in regions such as China. The industry may struggle to take over the market in areas where public transportation is well-funded and attractive to use and hence, Europe is the region where the market for urban mobility platforms that combine individual and shared mobility options has the greatest potential.

Car-sharing and ride-sharing represent parts of a wider aspect of the transportation industry, shared mobility. Either vehicles or mobility services are shared between consumers on an on-demand basis. Car-sharing provides consumers more privacy and less contact with strangers than ride-sharing. The value pool for ride-hailing is expected to be more than 14 times the size of the car-sharing market by 2030. 

Of the around 58,000 merchant ships trading internationally, some 17,800 ships were Ro-Ro/general cargo ships as of January 1, 2022. Ro-Ro/general cargo ships thus accounted for nearly 31 percent of the world merchant fleet.
The growing pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the industry asks for manufacturers’ response. With that in mind, new builds of general cargo ships are predicted to produce an average of 40 percent less carbon dioxide emissions by 2040.

Union Pacific is one of the leading railroad companies in the world, with an estimated market value of 147.2 billion U.S. dollars as of May 2022.

North America leads the world's largest railway companies

With over 21.8 billion U.S. dollars in operating revenue, Union Pacific focuses on hauling freight like coal, industrial, chemical or agricultural products on the largest railway network in the world. Canadian National Railway came in second, valued at some 86.3 billion U.S. dollars. The railroad company is Canada’s largest railway freight provider, also hauling freight throughout the Midwestern and Southern parts of the U.S.. Overall, the five companies with the highest market capitalization as of May 2022 were all located in North America, in part due to the region's reliance on Class I freight railroads for trading across borders. Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway (MTR) came sixth in the ranking, with a market valuation under half that of Canadian Pacific Railway.

The U.S. rail industry

While only 0.55 percent of the United States' 2019 gross domestic product was invested in the construction and maintenance of its infrastructures, the high-speed rail line in California was one of the largest rail infrastructure projects worldwide as of February 2022, based on its value. The U.S. also relies heavily on rail freight to cover the country's large distances between urban areas: The mileage of Class I railroads amounted to 91,800 statue miles for 66 billion U.S. dollars in total operating revenue in 2020.

The global supply chain pressure index reached -0.85 points in April 2024, down from -0.3 points in the previous month. After the challenging conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the supply chain pressure index has returned to the pre-pandemic levels.

In 2022, the global air traffic passenger demand grew by over 64 percent compared to the previous year, when the passenger demand increased by nearly 22 percent. This figure was forecasted to grow further and amount to 9.8 percent in 2024.