Arlington, VA, US: Freight tonnages in the United States will grow 24% over the next decade with revenues jumping 66% by 2022 according to the American Trucking Association.
The ATA’s Freight Transportation Forecast to 2022 says that road transport will outperform other modes of transport, such as rail, in the next ten years.
“Trucking is going to see significantly higher tonnage growth than some of the other modes,” says Bob Costello, chief economist at the ATA. “Trucking is also going to see faster revenue growth.”
Road transport’s share of total US tonnage will rise from 67.2% in 2010 to 69.2% in 2016 and 70.0% by 2022. Truck revenue will grow from $563bn in 2010 to $937bn on 2022, and revenue share will grow by 0.2% to 81.4%.
Rail intermodal will see much higher growth rates in tonnage and revenue, averaging 6.1% and 11% respectively over the decade. However, intermodal will remain a small segment, with 1.8% of total freight volume by the end of the period, and 2.7% of revenues.
“Major modal shifts are a thing of the past,” Costello said. “Trucking is going to continue to dominate the freight transportation industries.”
Costello says all modes of freight transport have a bright future and if the economic recovery continues as expected.
