Finding great rates on shipping your freight loads through Philadelphia doesn’t have to be hard. With Convoy, connecting with instant freight quotes for loads being shipped through Philadelphia is quick and easy.
Philadelphia Freight Shipping Quotes
Freight Shipping in Philadelphia
Looking at data provided by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Pennsylvania ranks in sixth place when it comes to freight shipments by value in 2017. $398,019 million worth of freight goods were shipped out of Pennsylvania, $278,751 million traveled within the state, and $403,191 million worth of goods were shipped outbound from Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania also ranked in the top 10 states for the most outbound reefer and van loads in 2020.
The Ports of Philadelphia (which include Philadelphia’s port as well as ports in New Jersey and Delaware) form the largest fresh-water shipping complex in the world and handle the most freight by weight on the East Coast. Penn’s Landing is the largest fresh-water port in the United States.
Truckers delivering freight to or from the East Coast, especially New York or New England, typically have to pass through a portion of Pennsylvania on their route.
Pennsylvania is pretty average when it comes to nationwide commute times, but one thing to note are the increasing expenses of tolls on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. You can find handy websites to calculate anticipated tolls before scheduling your shipment.
Major Industries and Commercial Activity in Philadelphia
Health care and social services are the dominant sector found in Philadelphia, although in the past Philadelphia was big in the manufacturing business.
At its peak, manufacturing even provided up to half the city’s jobs. Now manufacturing only makes up about 5% of the city’s jobs, while education, health, biomedical, and pharmaceutical companies are the largest drivers of the city’s economy.
22 Fortune 500 companies have headquarters in Pennsylvania, while 14 of them call the Philadelphia area home, including Comcast, Universal Health Services, Penn National Gaming, and Lincoln National.
The Philadelphia area produces a wide variety of freight, such as the following products:
- Chemicals
- Pharmaceuticals
- Office and computing equipment
- Cellular technology
- Instruments
- Biomedical products
- Fabricated metal products
- Paper products
- Processed foods
- Clothing
- Petrochemicals
- Machinery
- Fiber optics
August through September make up Pennsylvania’s heaviest produce season, with the predominant crops requiring transportation being corn, wheat, and hay.
The top interstate trading partners for Pennsylvania are New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Maryland.
How Weather Impacts Freight Shipping in Philadelphia
Major storms can impact truckers moving freight through the Philadelphia area and the state of Pennsylvania.
Between 2007 and 2016, Pennsylvania experienced 16 severe storms, three hurricanes, and one instance of flooding that caused over $1 billion in economic losses. Snowstorms of more than 5 inches of snow per day happen on average once a year in the Philadelphia area.
Truckers should always be aware of how inclement weather, such as the aforementioned snowstorms, can impact their route.
Freight Carriers in Philadelphia
Truck driving has been the most common job in Pennsylvania since 1994, so you’ll typically have a wide variety of options during your search for the perfect freight carrier.
With over 50,000 trucks serving more than 1,000 facilities in the Philadelphia area, Convoy makes it easy to connect you with great freight carriers in “the City of Brotherly Love.”