Changes in transportation have decreased the amount of time it takes to trade goods around the world. Early transportation methods required goods to be shipped slowly by land or by sea, and products could take months or years to travel around the world. Later transportation methods could also make shipping more efficient by allowing products to be traded in convenient ways. Intermodal shipping allows goods to be shipped in containers that can easily switch between different forms of transport. As a result, the cost of shipping has decreased greatly, making importing and exporting more worthwhile.
