# Freight forwarding and brokerage facts 2026

- Canonical page: https://pipetidy.com/industry-facts/freight-forwarding-statistics
- Author: Hudson Paul, Cofounder and research editor, Pipetidy
- Published: 2026-09-21
- Last updated: 2026-09-22
- Sources last checked: 2026-09-22

## Direct answer

Freight forwarders and brokers sell coordination across shippers, carriers, customs, ports, terminals, and consignees. The United States has 21,873 freight-transportation-arrangement employer establishments, and EU transportation and storage services generated €1.9 trillion of turnover in 2022, making account and exception management a substantial CRM opportunity.

## Headline facts

- **21,873** — U.S. freight transportation arrangement employer establishments in 2023. ([U.S. Census Bureau, 2023](https://data.census.gov/profile/488510_-_Freight_Transportation_Arrangement?codeset=naics~488510))
- **€1.9T** — EU transportation and storage services turnover in 2022. ([Eurostat, 2022](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/SEPDF/cache/10091.pdf))
- **130M t** — UK goods lifted in 2025 using HGVs plus at least one other transport mode. ([UK Department for Transport, 2025](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/road-freight-statistics-2025/domestic-road-freight-statistics-united-kingdom-2025))

## Regional context

### United States

All 50 states and the District of Columbia. The SBA counted 36.2 million U.S. small businesses in its 2025 profile release. Census counts 21,873 establishments arranging freight between shippers and carriers across modes.

Source: [SBA Office of Advocacy, 2025](https://advocacy.sba.gov/2025/06/30/new-advocacy-report-shows-the-number-of-small-businesses-in-the-u-s-exceeds-36-million/)

### Southeast United States

Pipetidy's target states: Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Virginia. These seven states contain about 5.49 million small businesses and roughly 8.8 million small-business employees. Savannah, Charleston, Hampton Roads, Mobile, inland rail, airports, and distribution hubs create a strong multimodal forwarding market.

Source: [SBA state profiles, 2025](https://advocacy.sba.gov/2025/06/30/2025-small-business-profiles-for-the-states-territories-and-nation/)

### United Kingdom

England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The UK had about 114,000 VAT/PAYE-registered transport and storage businesses and 141,000 agriculture, forestry, and fishing businesses in 2025. About 130 million tonnes moved in journeys combining HGVs with another transport mode in 2025.

Source: [Office for National Statistics, 2025](https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/bulletins/ukbusinessactivitysizeandlocation/2025)

### Northern Europe

Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden for this factsheet series. Eurostat's structural business statistics cover detailed enterprise activity across EU and EFTA markets, including transport, storage, rental, repair, and trade. Major ports, ferries, air cargo, and export industries create multilingual, cross-border exception workflows.

Source: [Eurostat structural business statistics](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/structural-business-statistics)

### Central Europe

Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, and Hungary for this factsheet series. Central Europe contains several of the EU's largest freight and industrial markets; Germany and Poland together produced almost 35% of EU road-freight tonne-kilometres in 2024. Dense road, rail, river, and manufacturing networks make shipment milestones and account communication highly interdependent.

Source: [Eurostat road freight, 2025](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/products-eurostat-news/w/ddn-20250709-1)

### Australia & New Zealand

Australia and New Zealand, reported separately where official statistics differ. Australia had 261,109 transport, postal, and warehousing businesses in 2025-26; New Zealand transport, postal, and warehousing sales reached NZ$11.75 billion in the June 2026 quarter. Long international routes, biosecurity, ports, domestic linehaul, and trans-Tasman trade produce document-heavy customer journeys.

Source: [ABS and Stats NZ, 2026](https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/business-indicators/counts-australian-businesses-including-entries-and-exits/latest-release)

## Methodology

Pipetidy Research selects primary government, statistical-agency, and publisher-original sources. Each figure retains its source period, geography, and classification; unlike measures are not combined into a synthetic global total.

## Limitations

Industry definitions differ by country and statistical system. Regional baselines describe the wider operating market and should not be read as a like-for-like market-size comparison or as evidence of Pipetidy customer outcomes.

## Suggested citation

Paul, Hudson. “Freight forwarding and brokerage facts 2026.” Pipetidy Research, P101 LLC. Updated 2026-09-22. https://pipetidy.com/industry-facts/freight-forwarding-statistics