ATA: Trucking revenues hit record high in 2014

Combined annual revenues from the trucking industry were over $700 billion for the first time ever in 2014, according to a new report from American Trucking Associations.    The trucking industry generated combined revenues of $700.4 billion for the full year in 2014, according to the latest edition of American Trucking Trends, a yearly report from American Trucking Associations. ATA said in a statement 2014 was the first year in history the industry surpassed $700 billion in total revenues.
   The annual report found trucks moved 9.96 billion tons of cargo in 2014, equal to 68.8 percent of all domestic freight, and the record-setting $700.4 billion in combined revenues accounted for 80.3 percent of all freight transportation spending.
   Trends estimated the trucking industry employed more than 7 million people throughout the year, including 3.4 million drivers, and the number of registered motor carriers has grown by 68 times to more than 1.3 million carriers since deregulation.
   “Last year, we saw freight volumes grow significantly,” ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said of the report. “Increases in freight, combined with continued tight capacity helped drive revenues and coupled with lower fuel prices, we saw motor carriers go on a buying spree for new trucks as they replaced older equipment.”
   Trends is ATA’s annual compendium of data on the trucking industry’s size and performance. The full 2014 report is available for purchase here.
   “Trends is a valuable resource for showing just how critical, how essential, our industry is,” ATA President and CEO Bill Graves said in a statement. “It is one thing to say trucking is our economy’s lifeblood, but it is quite another to show it. And Trends shows it clearly: trucking is, and will continue to be, the dominant way to move goods in this country.”