The American Trucking Associations (ATA) have released a few highlights about what the organization expects to happen in the industry over the next decade.
In its recently released U.S. Freight Transportation Forecast to 2024, the ATA says the percentage of tonnage hauled by truck is going to go up. It predicts that by 2014, the industry will see an increase of 2.3%, meaning it will be responsible for carrying 70.8% of all tonnage, versus the 68.5% share it had of the market in 2012.
The ATA also expects to see overall freight revenues to rise by up to 63.6% over the same time period, reaching US$1.3 trillion in 2024. The trucking portion of that will rise slightly from 80.7% of the total to 81%.
Truckload volumes are forecasted to grow 3.2% through 2018 and then increase 1.1% annually between 2019 and 2024. In comparison, LTL volume should increase 3.5% annually through 2018 and then 2.4% until 2024.
The ATA calls the expected growth of rail carloads “anemic” with 1.5% annual growth through 2018, and then just fractional growth—0.4% per year—after that, which means its market share will decline to 14.2%. In 2011 the market share for rail carloads was 14.8%.
