Worldwide parcel deliveries will hit 200 billion a year by 2025, more than doubling 2018 totals, with business-to- consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) shipping expected to show healthy gains, according to Pitney Bowes, Inc.’s (NYSE:PBI) global parcel index released October 10.
Global shipping volume is expected to surpass 100 billion parcels by the end of 2020 across the 13 countries that were surveyed, Pitney said. China remained the volume leader last year, handling 51 billion parcels domestically and internationally, four times that of the United States. From 2013 to 2018, China’s parcel volume grew by 41% compounded annually, though the pace of growth has slowed somewhat in the past year or two.
U.S. parcel revenues, however, were higher last year at $119 billion, compared to China at $91 billion, according to the report. The U.S. reported the highest revenue among the 13 countries, an 8% year-over-year increase. U.S. domestic and export volumes rose to 13 billion from 12 billion in 2017.
Overall 2018 parcel volume grew 17 percent year-over-year. Revenue increased 13.7% to $317 billion. Of the countries surveyed, only Japan reported a year-over-year decline in volume, according to the report.
The report measures domestic and export parcel shipping activity within the 13 countries, which account for 3.7 billion people. The report tracks the shipping of parcels weighing up to 70 pounds.
Much of the current and future growth will come from the surging demand for e-commerce orders both intra-country and internationally, However, there will also be decent demand from the B2B side. Parcel shipping in the global information technology industry will rise 7.5% a year through 2023, according to the report. Shipping in the manufacturing industry will rise 6.5 percent annually through 2023, and the gains in the healthcare sector will average 3.7%, the report predicted.
On average, 2,760 parcels were shipped each second last year among the 13 countries, the report concluded. About 23 parcels were shipped per person last year, according to the report.