By Michele Fuetsch, Staff Reporter
This story appears in the April 23 print edition of Transport Topics.
Trucking continues to be the dominant mode of freight transportation in the United States, with the industry hauling 67% of all freight in 2011, American Trucking Associations said in its latest edition of “American Trucking Trends.”
The trucking industry moved 9.2 billion tons of freight last year, which equated to 80.9% or $603.9 billion of the nation’s total freight bill, according to the 2012 edition of “Trends,” which is available through ATA Business Solutions.
“Despite all of the worries about slipping back into a recession, both the trucking industry and the macro-economy are gaining some momentum,” the report said.
Trucking’s contribution to the nation’s overall economy also continues to be significant, with the industry employing 6.8 million people, including more than 3 million drivers, the report said.
ATA President Bill Graves called “Trends” the “singularly most important” guide to trucking facts and figures and said the 2012 report shows that trucking is the “driving force” behind the improving economy.
“Safe, reliable and efficient motor carriers enable businesses throughout the entire supply chain to keep inventories lean, thereby saving the economy billions of dollars each year,” Graves said in a statement announcing the publication of the latest edition of “Trends.”
Trucks transported 56.6% of the total value of trade between the United States and Canada in 2010 and 66.2% of the value of trade between the United States and Mexico, the report said.
As outlined in the latest report, there were more than 1.2 million carriers in the United States in December, ranging from for-hire to private carriers and owner-operators.
There are only a “handful” of what the “Trends” report calls billion-dollar carriers in the United States, with the industry composed mostly of small carriers.
Ninety percent of carriers operate six or fewer trucks, and 97% of carriers operate fleets of 20 or fewer trucks, the report said.
“Trends” also said that, in 2011, trucks burned 37.2 billion gallons of diesel fuel and 14.8 billion gallons of gasoline. And in 2010, the latest year for which figures are available, trucks logged 397.8 billion miles, excluding travel by government and farm trucks.
In addition to the direct contribution the trucking industry makes to the economy via payrolls and the movement of goods, the industry also pays billions into government coffers.
In 2009, commercial trucks paid a total of $14.3 billion in federal highway user taxes and $18.7 billion in state highway user taxes, the report said.
