Trucks Moved 73% of Cargo in 2012, US Survey Shows
This story appears in the Dec. 16 print edition of Transport Topics.
Some $13.6 trillion worth of goods were shipped in the United States in 2012 weighing a combined 11.7 billion tons, with trucks once again doing a majority of the work, according to a federal report.
Preliminary findings from the federal government’s Commodity Flow Survey, released twice a decade, found trucks moved more than 73.7% of the goods as measured by dollar value, and more than 70% as measured by weight.
“The Commodity Flow Survey showed, once again, that trucks move the vast, vast majority of freight in the United States,” said Bob Costello, chief economist of American Trucking Associations. He said that the survey “is a critical tool for policymakers and researchers in examining the freight market.”
Trucks handled 8.19 billion tons of freight in 2012, and the goods were worth $10.04 trillion.
The preliminary results were released jointly on Dec. 10 by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics and the Census Bureau, and their final report is due in December 2014.
The Bureau of Transportation Statistics is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation; Census is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The previous Commodity Flow Survey analyzed data from 2007.
In comparing the current report with the 2007 version — the year before the recession took hold — the total inflation-adjusted value of goods shipped has increased, although tonnage has not. Total shipping in all modes in 2007 was worth $12.6 trillion in 2012 dollars, or $1 trillion less than the current report.
Tonnage on all modes in 2007 was 12.5 billion tons, or 7.25% more than the current report. Costello said part of this is explained by technological improvement as electronics over time cost somewhat more but are often much smaller and lighter.
The current report examines the difference between for-hire and private trucking. For-hire fleets had an average length of haul of 489 miles, whereas the average private fleet shipment moved just 46 miles.
Such activity indicates long trips by for-hire carriers into corporate distribution centers and shorter trips through metropolitan areas by private fleets.
The two types of fleets hauled similar levels of tonnage, but the for-hire freight was much more valuable, the report said.
For-hire carriers moved 4.39 billion tons worth $6.61 trillion in 2012. In-house fleets belonging to retailers and manufacturers hauled 3.8 billion tons worth $3.43 trillion.
Of all the tonnage shipped during 2012, 96.4% of it moved on just one transportation mode. After for-hire and private trucking, freight rail came in third place at 15.8%.
The Commodity Flow Survey also quantified multimodal shipping, of which truck-rail was the most prevalent type, accounting for 63% of all multimodal activity.
Truck-rail intermodal weighed a total of 224.3 million tons in 2012 and was worth $230.5 billion — far below the truck-only figures.
The average intermodal shipment moved 1,004 miles during the year, compared with 1,413 miles in the 2002 survey. The 29% decrease in length of haul for truck-rail shipping shows the option is gaining traction in shorter routes.
The report said the nation’s parcel couriers, including the U.S. Postal Service, moved 26.7 million tons of packages in 2012, and the goods inside were worth $1.58 trillion.
ATA’s Costello said it is noteworthy that today’s shipping is largely regional in nature. Among all shipments, only 9.7% traveled more than 750 miles. Another 5.4% moved between 500 and 750 miles, leaving 84.9% below 500 miles.
