As someone in the maritime industry (ship design), I tend to agree that local manufacturing is an important component. However, there is still the distribution

As someone in the maritime industry (ship design), I tend to agree that local manufacturing is an important component. However, there is still the distribution of raw materials - from concentraded locations where materials are mined/recycled, to points of manufacture, then to points of end use. In an ideal world, we'd have universal star trek 3D printers that can build any imagined product, from food to cars, from some the atom up, that is used and recycled in situ. Until then, I'm afraid there will be a growing need for cargo transport. That said, I am a proponent of scalable/distributed vice monolithic transport modes. To me, that is where we need to head in terms of ship/rail/etc. systems. This revolution in design is already starting to emerge.