Would you like to fly planes, drive trucks, or pilot ships?
Are you organized and efficient?
Do you have good eyesight and quick reflexes?
Are you good at solving problems?
Are you good at understanding mechanics?
Would you enjoy planning roads or power systems?
Would you like working on a train or in a shipyard?

If you answered yes to two or more of these questions, you might enjoy a career in transportation, distribution, and logistics. You might succeed in one of these careers:

• Aircraft mechanic
• Airline pilot
• Bus driver
• Locomotive engineer
• Dredge operator
• Ship captain
• Truck driver
• Freight agent
• Shipping clerk
• Civil engineer
• Transportation inspector

Cluster Definition

Jobs in the transportation, distribution, and logistics career cluster involve the planning, management, and movement of people, materials, and goods by road, air, rail, and water, as well as related professional and technical support services such as transportation infrastructure planning and management; logistics services; and mobile equipment and facility maintenance.

Career Pathways in Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics

A career pathway is an area of concentration within a career cluster. Each pathway contains a group of careers requiring similar academic and technical skills as well as similar industry certifications or postsecondary education. The transportation, distribution, and logistics career cluster has seven pathways:

• Transportation Operations
• Logistics Planning and Management Services
• Warehousing and Distribution Center Operations
• Sales and Service
• Facility and Mobile Equipment Maintenance
• Risk Management and Health and Safety Management
• Transportation Systems/Infrastructure Planning, Management and Regulations.

Transportation Operations
Jobs in this pathway involve the operation and support of mobile equipment in the movement of goods and people. Jobs include airline pilot, flight attendant, truck driver, taxi driver, dispatcher, ship captain, rail yard operations, locomotive engineer, airport support, and harbor support.

Logistics Planning and Management Services
Jobs in this pathway involve planning, managing, and controlling the physical distribution of people and freight from the point of origin to the point of consumption. Jobs include logistics manager, logistics engineer, and logistics analyst.

Warehousing and Distribution Center Operations
This pathway covers the jobs involved in packaging, loading, and tracking goods for transportation, including warehouse manager, industrial and packaging engineer; traffic, shipping, and receiving clerk; and material handling worker.

Sales and Service
These jobs involve marketing and selling transportation services for people or freight. Jobs include marketing and sales manager, reservation and travel clerk, customer service representative, customer billing clerk, and cashier.

Facility and Mobile Equipment Maintenance
This pathway comprises jobs maintaining, repairing, and servicing all types of vehicles, including trucks, airplanes, cars, and other transportation equipment. Occupations include facility maintenance manager, industrial equipment mechanic, industrial electrician; and automotive, truck, aircraft, locomotive, or ship mechanic.

Risk Management and Health and Safety Management
Workers in this pathway assess and manage safety risks and possible environmental hazards. Jobs include health and safety engineer, environmental manager, safety analyst, and emergency services worker.

Transportation Systems/Infrastructure Planning, Management, and Regulations
This pathway focuses on the planning and management of the public transportation infrastructure. Jobs include urban or regional planner, government regulator, and other jobs in federal, state, and local transportation agencies.

Click here for a visual representation of the transportation, distribution, and logistics career cluster.

Print and Internet Resources

These Print and Internet Resources offer references for career cluster exploration, including trade, professional, and business associations, government departments and agencies, labor unions, and cluster-specific career Web sites.

Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics Print and Internet Resources