ARLINGTON, Va. — American Trucking Associations Wednesday released the latest edition of its annual data compendium – ATA American Trucking Trends 2019 – which showed that the industry’s revenues jumped to $796.7 billion in 2018, up from $700.1 billion the previous year.
“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% of the nation’s tonnage freight.
- Trucking’s revenues accounted for 80.3% of the nation’s freight bill.
- Trade – especially with Mexico and Canada – is very important to trucking. Trucks moved 67.4% of surface freight between the U.S. and Canada – up 3.6% in 2018 – and 83.5% of cross-border trade with Mexico, up 10.2% 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% of the industry’s drivers and minorities account for 40.4% of truckers.
- Most carriers are small companies – 91.3% of fleets operate six or fewer trucks and 97.4% 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 Trucker News Staff produces engaging content for not only TheTrucker.com, but also The Trucker Newspaper, which has been serving the trucking industry for more than 30 years. With a focus on drivers, the Trucker News Staff aims to provide relevant, objective content pertaining to the trucking segment of the transportation industry. The Trucker News Staff is based in Little Rock, Arkansas.
