Modern transportation businesses run the gamut from personal dispatch and moving and storage services, to large scale freight operations. Depending on your level of interest as a future new business owner, you have plenty of options on the table. In this guide, we’ll illustrate how to plan for and start a transporting company from the ground up.

The category of transportation businesses is broad, which means that you can specialize in one type of business or key area. If you have a specific interest in starting a trucking company, don’t miss our recent post on how to start a truck business. 

For the purpose of this guide, we’ll divide transport businesses into three main categories. 

The types of transport businesses are: 

  • Personal transport: This includes one-on-one services catered to individuals or small groups, including things like taxi services, rideshare opportunities and limousines.
  • Local transport: This category serves regional markets by transporting things like livestock, materials, consumer goods and more. The opportunities might be commercial or private, depending on the distributed materials. 
  • Global transport: Global transport companies encompass aspects of the other categories but on an international scale. International providers may offer sea shipping or air-based delivery of cargo.

Each category might require a unique knowledge of state, federal or even international laws to comply. Based on your interest and expertise, you can plan your next steps accordingly.

What Does a Transporting Business Do? 

Transport businesses are a type of business that transports goods or passengers from one location to another. They can provide services to individual passengers, other companies or global trade partners. A transport business could specialize in a number of activities, including individual rideshare services, hauling of consumer goods, or international shipping of supplies and products.

Most commonly, a transportation business is categorized by the type of customer base they serve or the type of routine service they provide.