Trucking industry revenues topped $796 billion in 2018

Revenues for America’s trucking industry jumped to $796.7 billion in 2018, up from $700.1 billion the previous year, according to a new report from the American Trucking Associations (ATA).

ATA released the numbers in its annual data compendium, ATA American Trucking Trends 2019.

“2018 was a year of dynamic growth for the trucking industry,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “Trends is a simple, one-stop resource to see where our industry is so executives and policymakers can make informed decisions about where it is going.”

Among the other findings in Trends:

• In 2018, trucks moved 11.49 billion tons of freight, 71.4 percent of the nation’s tonnage freight.
• Trucking’s revenues accounted for 80.3 percent of the nation’s freight bill.
• Trade – especially with Mexico and Canada – is very important to trucking. Trucks moved 67.4 percent of surface freight between the U.S. and Canada – up 3.6 percent in 2018 – and 83.5 percent of cross-border trade with Mexico, up 10.2 percent from the previous year.
• There are 7.8 million people employed in trucking-related jobs, up 100,000 from the previous year. This includes 3.5 million professional drivers.
• Women make up 6.6 percent of the industry’s drivers and minorities account for 40.4 percent of truckers.
• Most carriers are small companies – 91.3 percent of fleets operate six or fewer trucks and 97.4 percent operate 20 or fewer.

“ATA believes good decisions are based on good data, and Trends is full of strong data, which is why it finds a home on the desks of elected officials, regulators and executives across the supply chain,” said ATA President and CEO Chris Spear.

The report is indispensable for use by trucking companies, industry suppliers, logistics providers, analysts, public policy decision-makers and many others. ATA American Trucking Trends 2019 is available for sale now at ATA Business Solutions. To purchase a copy, CLICK HERE.