Heavy Hauling

Trucks moved 11.8 billion tons of freight in 2019, generating $791.7B in revenue

As if you really need any convincing that trucking is engine that keeps America’s economy moving, the American Trucking Associations has compiled some impressive numbers to hammer home the idea.
 
In 2019, the trucking industry generated $791.7 billion – with a ‘B’ – in revenue, moving 11.84 billion tons of freight, positioning the country in a position to withstand the uncertainty of the coronavirus crisis that was to come.
 
The ATA’s American Trucking Trends 2020, the organization’s annual data compendium of all things trucking, laid out several other eye-opening factoids.
 
In 2019, trucking’s revenues accounted for 80.4 percent of the nation’s freight bill. Trucks moved 67.7 percent of surface freight between the U.S. and Canada and 83.1 percent of the cross-border trade with Mexico – a total of $772 billion worth of goods.
 
“Despite a challenging year, the data … shows the industry was in good shape entering the global pandemic,” ATA chief economist Bob Costello said.
 
Ask any trucking executive and they’ll tell you their company’s most valuable asset is their people. There were 7.95 million people employed in trucking-related jobs, including 3.6 million professional drivers – and more are needed. Women make up 6.7 percent of the driving force and minorities account for 45.1 percent of truckers.
 
It’s an industry driven by small companies. While the mega-fleets gain most of the attention, 93.1 percent of fleets operate six or fewer trucks and 97.4 percent operate 20 or fewer.

Asked where he thought the trucking industry would be without the small carrier, one Alabama operator told Wright Media, “it’d be non-existent.”
 
“Everybody started as a little company,” said Brian Lindley, owner of LB3, a 20-truck fleet in Wedowee, Ala. “Usually your smaller companies have better service; we’re more of the old-fashioned way of doing business, a handshake and we’re there to serve you (approach).”
 
Check out www.hiremaster.com/jobs to find available truck driving jobs throughout the country.