The pandemic took a good-size bite out of trucking freight in 2020, but loaded and rolling trucks still dominated transport modes, the American Trucking Associations reported Thursday.
The trucking industry, overwhelmingly made up of small businesses operating six or fewer trucks, moved 10.23 billion tons of freight in 2020, a 13.6% drop from 11.84 billion tons in 2019. The industry generated $732.3 billion in revenue, or 80.4% of the nation’s freight bill, unchanged from the year earlier.
The ATA updated major trucking statistics in the latest edition of American Trucking Associations’ “American Trucking Trends 2021.”
“We knew that the pandemic had a significant impact on our industry, but this year’s Trends shows that despite those challenges, the trucking industry remained our nation’s lifeline — delivering the life-saving and life-sustaining essentials our country needed in a time of great need,” Bob Costello, the ATA chief economist, said in a press release.
Other findings:
- Trucking employed 7.65 million people in industry-related jobs, including 3.36 million professional truck drivers.
- Women made up 7.8% of the nation’s drivers — an all-time high — and minorities account for 42.3% of truck drivers.
- 91.5% of fleets operate six or fewer trucks, and 97.4% operate fewer than 20 power units.
- Trucks moved 70.9% of the value of surface trade between the U.S. and Canada and 83.8% of cross-border trade with Mexico, for a total of $695 billion worth of goods.
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