Truckers Hauled Vast Majority of Freight During 2007, New U.S. DOT Analysis Finds
This story appears in the Feb. 7 print edition of Transport Topics.
Trucks hauled the vast majority of freight in the United States, according to the Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
The report, released Jan. 31, is based on the 2007 commodity flow survey, a study conducted by the federal government every five years.
“Trucking continued to dominate the nation’s movement of freight, accounting for 71% of the value, 70% of the weight and 39% of the ton-miles,” the BTS report said.
“American businesses covered by the [commodity flow survey] shipped about $11.7 trillion worth of goods in 2007,” the report said, “weighing 12.5 billion tons and generating 3.3 trillion ton-miles.”
In total, trucking hauled $8.3 trillion worth of freight, weighing 8.8 billion tons, in 2007, BTS said.
When BTS broke its data out on a state-by-state basis, trucks hauled “at least 60% of the total value of shipments for 42 states and the District of Columbia . . . [and] by weight, the truck mode transported at least 60% of the originating shipments for 40 states, including the District.”
Trucks hauled the greatest percentage of freight by value in North Carolina, where they hauled 85.7%.
The state where trucks hauled the lowest percentage of freight was Louisiana, where trucks carried just 37.2% of freight by value.
By weight, trucks hauled the greatest percentage of freight in Massachusetts, where they carried 96.4% of all goods. Wyoming saw the lowest percentage of freight by weight, where trucks carried just 5.6%.
In the South, BTS said trucks hauled more than 80% of the freight for eight states and Washington, D.C., and only Louisiana and Texas saw trucks haul less than 60% of goods by value.
In the Northeast, New Hampshire trucks hauled just 63.1% of the freight, making it the only state in the region where trucks failed to haul more than 70% of the goods.
Trucks hauled less than 60% of freight in six states in the West, with just Arizona and Nevada posting mode shares for truck over 70%.
