Truck, rail share of U.S. tonnage to fall over next 11 years, ATA says

The trucking and railroad industries' share of total U.S. freight volumes will decline over the next 11 years as more commodities are transported via pipeline, the American Trucking

Associations (ATA) said yesterday in releasing its freight forecast through 2029.

The trucking sector's share of total tonnage will fall to 65.9 percent in 2029 from 70 percent in 2029, according to the trucking trade group. Meanwhile, rails' share of the market will decline to 10 percent from 12.9 percent today. Neither mode will experience traffic declines in absolute terms during the period, ATA said. Rather, pipeline will take an increasing share of overall traffic due to a shift in commodity demand, the group said.

Overall freight volumes will increase 4.2 percent in 2018, and will increase, in aggregate, by 35.6 percent by 2029, the report said. Truck tonnage is projected to increase by 2.3 percent a year through 2024 and by 2.2 percent annually from 2025 through 2029, the report projected.

Total tonnage transported will reach nearly 16 billion tons in 2018, and hit 21.7 billion tons in 2029, ATA forecast.