When a shipper speaks to a freight forwarder about helping with logistics, there are several options for shipping. The options are shipping by ocean, by air, by rail and by truck. More often in the US, it seems that trucking has been the dominant form of transportation. This is a trend that continued to grow last year. According to the American Trucking Association, the trucking industry transported 69.1% of the freight last year. This total comprised of 9.7 billion tons of cargo. The trucking industry was so huge last year that they earned over 80% of the freight revenue in the United States. This number is a big credit to the 7 million people who work in the trucking industry, including all of the hard working truck drivers.
There are more numbers to show how big the trucking industry was last year. For example, in just 9 days, the trucking industry could carry all of those loads transported on rail in an entire year. And if you took all of the loads last year by truck, they would stretch from the Earth to the Moon more than 11 times.
There are numerous reasons why trucking is still number one. The freight rates for trucking are really affordable for many supple chains. That is why many businesses that used to outsource positions are keeping the jobs domestically. Trucking offers many advantages for businesses, including expedient shipping times. When you add up all of the reasons, it is no wonder that trucking is the best.
