Cargo is the goods and materials that ships, planes, trains, or trucks carry from one place to another. When a container ship crosses the ocean loaded with electronics, furniture, and clothing, all those items are its cargo. When a cargo plane flies medical supplies to a disaster area, those supplies are its cargo.

Unlike passengers, who travel on their own, cargo must be transported.

Look around your room. Many of your belongings probably traveled as cargo before reaching you. That soccer ball might have crossed the Pacific Ocean in a shipping container. Those bananas in your kitchen likely rode in the refrigerated cargo hold of a ship from Central America. The packages delivered to your door spent time as cargo in delivery trucks.

Ships and planes designed specifically for carrying goods are called cargo ships and cargo planes. They're built differently from passenger versions, with huge holds and loading equipment instead of seats and windows. The Port of Los Angeles handles millions of tons of cargo every year, making it possible for stores across America to stock products from around the world. Without cargo transportation, modern life as we know it couldn't exist.