Trucking Revenue Tops $300 Bln., Census Bureau Says
Total revenue for truck transportation, couriers and messengers, and warehousing and storage reached $312 billion in 2006, up from $293 billion in 2005, the U.S. Census Bureau said Tuesday.
Commercial trucks traveled 91 billion miles in 2006, with revenues reaching $220 billion. Of that amount, motor carrier revenue was $204 billion, with 67% from long-distance trucking and the remaining $67.9 billion from local trucking, the bureau reported.
The report, 2006 Service Annual Survey: Truck Transportation, Couriers and Messengers, and Warehousing and Storage, provides estimates, such as revenue, size of shipments, revenue by commodity shipped, origin and destination of shipment, and inventories of revenue-generating equipment, for firms with paid employees.
Unlike American Trucking Associations’ recent report that put 2006 trucking at more than $645 billion, the Census report did not include private trucking, which makes up about half of all trucking revenue.
Trucking within U.S. borders accounted for 96% , or $196 billion, of motor carrier revenue in 2006. Revenue generated from truck transportation with Canada, Mexico and all other destinations was $8 billion.
Among the largest dollar volume of truck shipments were new furniture and miscellaneous manufactured products, agricultural and fish products, base metal and machinery, and wood products, textiles and leathers, the Census Bureau said.
Other highlights included:
• Couriers and messengers revenue was $72 billion in 2006. Warehousing and storage totaled $21 billion.
• About 84% of trucks and trailers were owned and/or leased with drivers, while 16% were leased without drivers.
• General freight trucking, which handles commodities transported on pallets in a container or van trailer, contributed two-thirds of all trucking revenue, with $147 billion.
• Trucks transporting specialized freight — requiring equipment such as flatbeds, tankers or refrigerated trailers because of the size, weight or shape of the commodity — accounted for the remainder of trucking revenue at $73 billion.
• Local general freight trucking revenue, which come from carrying goods within a single metropolitan area and its adjacent non-urban area, grew 12.3% to $25 billion.
• Long-distance general freight revenues, which come from carrying goods between metropolitan areas, increased 4.3% to $122 billion.
