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David Hannon, Managing Editor -- Purchasing, 6/2/2005 2:00:00 AM
Trucking will increase its share of the nation's freight pool and continue to dominate freight movement into the next decade, the American Trucking Associations reports in its U.S. Freight Transportation Forecast to 2016.
"Trucking is big and getting bigger," ATA President and CEO Bill Graves said, "and trucks will remain, far and away, the dominant mode in transporting general commodities. Our share of total freight revenue will approach 88% by the end of the forecast period." Trucking also will increase total annual tonnage to 13 billion tons, giving it 69.1% of the total tonnage market by 2016. Solid performance of the U.S. economy, mainly due to robust consumer spending and a revival in manufacturing, drove motor carrier traffic forward last year, the report said.
Overall rail tonnage is estimated to reach 2.56 billion tons in 2016, up from 2.06 billion tons in 2004, giving it 13.6% of the total tonnage market. The report also predicts growth in rail intermodal and air transport. Although neither mode will have more than 2% of the total tonnage market share by 2016, these two modes represent the fastest-growing segments over this time and highlight the importance of intermodal movements in the future.
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