Office of Operations Freight Management and Operations

Freight Facts and Figures 2012

Tables 2-5 and 2-5M. Hazardous Materials Shipments by Transportation Mode: 2007

As measured by the CFS, trucks move more than one-half of all hazardous materials shipped from within the United States. However, truck ton miles of hazardous shipments account for a much smaller share, about one-third of all ton miles, because such shipments travel relatively short distances. By contrast, rail accounted for only 6 percent of hazardous shipments by weight but nearly 29 percent of ton miles.

Table 2-5 (standard units)

Table in Excel format

Transportation mode Value
Tons Ton miles Miles
$ Billions Percent Millions Percent Billions Percent Average distance per shipment
All modes, total 1,448 100.0 2,231 100.0 323 100.0 96
Single modes, total 1,371 94.6 2,112 94.6 279 86.3 65
Truck1 837 57.8 1,203 53.9 104 32.2 59
For-hire 359 24.8 495 22.2 63 19.6 214
Private2 478 33.0 708 31.7 41 12.6 32
Rail 69 4.8 130 5.8 92 28.5 578
Water 69 4.8 150 6.7 37 11.5 383
Air 2 0.1 S S S S 1,095
Pipeline3 393 27.2 629 28.2 S S S
Multiple modes, total 71 4.9 111 5.0 43 13.3 834
Parcel, U.S. Postal Service, or Courier 8 0.5 <1 <0.1 <1 <0.1 836
Other multiple modes 28 1.9 57 2.5 17 5.3 233
Unknown and other modes, total 7 0.5 8 0.4 1 0.5 58

Key:  S = data are not published because of high sampling variability or other reasons

1Truck as a single mode includes shipments that went by private truck only, for-hire truck only, or a combination of both.

2Private truck refers to a truck operated by a temporary or permanent employee of an establishment or the buyer/receiver of the shipment.

3Excludes crude oil shipments.

Note:

Numbers and percents may not add to totals due to rounding.

Source:

U.S. Department of Transportation, Research and Innovative Technology Administration, Bureau of Transportation Statistics and U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, 2007 Commodity Flow Survey, Hazardous Materials (Washington, DC: July 2010), table 1a, available at www.bts.gov/publications/commodity_flow_survey/ as of August 5, 2012.

 

Table 2-5M (metric units)

Table in Excel format

Transportation mode Value
Metric Tonnes Tonne kilometers Kilometers
$ Billion Percent Millions Percent Billions Percent Average distance per shipment
All modes, total 1,448 100.0 2,024 100.0 472 100.0 154
Single modes, total 1,371 94.6 1,916 94.6 408 86.3 105
Truck1 837 57.8 1091 53.9 152 32.2 95
For-hire 359 24.8 449 22.2 92 19.6 344
Private2 478 33.0 642 31.7 59 12.6 51
Rail 69 4.8 118 5.8 135 28.5 930
Water 69 4.8 136 6.7 54 11.5 616
Air 2 0.1 S S S S 1,762
Pipeline3 393 27.2 571 28.2 S S S
Multiple modes, total 71 4.9 101 5.0 63 13.3 1,342
Parcel, U.S. Postal Service, or courier 8 0.5 <1 <0.1 <1 <0.1 1,345
Other multiple modes 28 1.9 51 2.5 25 5.3 375
Unknown and other modes, total 7 0.5 8 0.4 2 0.5 93

Key:  S = data are not published because of high sampling variability or other reasons

1Truck as a single mode includes shipments that went by private truck only, for-hire truck only, or a combination of both.

2Private truck refers to a truck operated by a temporary or permanent employee of an establishment or the buyer/receiver of the shipment.

3Excludes crude oil shipments.

Notes:

1 metric tonne = 1.1023 short tons; 1 tonne kilometer = 0.6849 ton miles. Numbers and percents may not add to totals due to rounding.

Source:

U.S. Department of Transportation, Research and Innovative Technology Administration, Bureau of Transportation Statistics and U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, 2007 Commodity Flow Survey, Hazardous Materials (Washington, DC: July 2010), table 1a, available at www.bts.gov/publications/commodity_flow_survey/ as of August 5, 2012.

 


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