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SEARCHTrucking revenues were up big in 2018, as the industry played a vital role in employment and in the movement of goods both inside and out of the country, according to an ATA report.
Trucking revenues were up big in 2018, as the industry played a vital role in employment and in the movement of goods both inside and out of the country.
Photo: Evan Lockridge
Trucking industry revenues jumped to $796.7 billion in 2018, up from $700.1 billion in the previous year, according to American Trucking Associations’ annual ATA American Trucking Trends 2019 report.
“2018 was a year of dynamic growth for the trucking industry,” said Bob Costello, ATA chief economist. “'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.”
In 2018, trucks moved 11.49 billion tons of freight -- 71.4% of the nation’s tonnage freight -- with trucking revenues accounting for 80.3% of the nation’s freight bill.
Cross-border trade with Mexico and Canada played a huge role in trucking’s success for the year. Trucks moved 67.4% of surface freight between the U.S. and Canada, and 83.5% of cross-border trade with Mexico, with a 3.6% and 10.2% increase in each sector respectively from 2017.
Trucking was also a major source of U.S. employment, with 7.8 million people working in trucking-related jobs. Of that total, 3.5 million were truck drivers. Women made up 6.6% of drivers and minorities accounted for 40.4% of the truck driving workforce.
By and large, most carriers are still small companies, ATA found. Fleets with six or fewer trucks make up 91.3% of all fleets. Increase that number to 20 trucks and small fleets make up 97.4% of fleets.
“ATA believes good decisions are based on good data, and 'Trend' 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 Chris Spear, ATA president and CEO.
ATA makes the full report available for purchase here.
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