The load movers, the trucking companies and the crane companies.

As of the beginning of 2012, we counted1652 load movers registered in the United States, including Hawaii and Alaska. These load movers are divided into Machinery Movers & Erectors, Millwrights, and Riggers.

However, most of these companies are actually engaged first in other lines of business, and offer load moving services only as a secondary income source. So you will find many machine shops, building contractors, or machine repair and sales companies also registered as load moving companies.

According to our count, we see only 705 companies that earn their living primarily and foremost from load moving services.

Trend: In 2007 and before the Great Recession, we counted 1012 load movers. So, consequently that means that the market has shrunk by 30% in the last 5 years. Looking at companies that existed in 2007 and are still around in 2012, we see an extremely high failure rate. Out of the 1012 companies that existed in 2007, only 373 are still around today. That means 63% of load moving companies went out of business in the last 5 years. Out of the currently operating 705 load movers, 332 companies are new to the business (less than 5 years in business).

Looking across all states, we do not find a concentration but rather an even distribution of load moving companies. As one would expect, California has the largest number of movers with 137, followed by Texas with 75. The least number of movers are located or registered in Alaska.

Not included in any of these statistics are Vault and Safe Movers, which account for 136. House movers account for 934 (of which 26 also are rigger). Since we only track industrial load moving we do not count and include Piano Movers, Vending Machine, or General Furniture Movers.

We count 7030 companies registered to truck heavy loads. This includes Heavy Hauling Movers, Heavy Hauling Trucking, and Oversized Load Transport Trucking. Of those companies, 182 are also registered riggers.

We count 4022 crane companies, of which 3173 are engaged in Crane Services and 935 in Crane Rental.