Last year, the trucking industry generated $700.4 billion, according to the latest edition of American Trucking Trends, making 2014 the first year in history the industry topped $700 billion in total revenue.
“Last year, we saw freight volumes grow significantly,” says ATA chief economist Bob Costello. “Increases in freight, combined with continued tight capacity helped drive revenues and coupled with lower fuel prices, we saw motor carriers go on a buying spree for new trucks as they replaced older equipment.”
Trends, which is available for purchase now at atabusinesssolutions.com, is ATA’s annual compendium of data on the trucking industry’s size and performance. Among the findings in this year’s edition are:
- In 2014, trucks moved 9.96 billion tons, or 68.8%, of all domestic freight.
- The $700.4 billion in revenue accounted for 80.3% of all freight transportation spending.
- Trucking employed more than 7 million people, including 3.4 million drivers.
- Combination trucks logged 168.4 billion miles in 2013, or an average of 69,000 per truck.
- Since Deregulation, the number of registered motor carriers has grown by 68 times to more than 1.3 million carriers.
- Commercial trucks paid $16.5 billion in federal highway user fees in 2013.
“Trends is a valuable resource for showing just how critical, how essential, our industry is,” said ATA President and CEO Bill Graves. “It is one thing to say trucking is our economy’s lifeblood, but it is quite another to show it. And Trends shows it clearly: trucking is, and will continue to be, the dominant way to move goods in this country.”
