Freight Facts and Figures 2008

Table 4-1. Economic Characteristics of Transportation and Warehousing Establishments in Freight-Dominated Modes: 1997 and 2002

The freight industry has many components, encompassing companies large and small. All told there were about 200,000 transportation and warehousing establishments in 2002, with more than one-half of those primarily engaged in trucking. Revenue generated by trucking accounts for about 40 percent of transportation and warehousing sector revenue while warehousing accounts for a small percentage of the total.

Table in Excel format

	Establishments 1997	Establishments 2002	Revenue (Current $ thousands) 1997	Revenue (Current $ thousands) 2002	Payroll (Current $ thousands) 1997	Payroll (Current $ thousands) 2002	Paid Employees 1997	Paid Employees 2002
Transportation and warehousing¹	178,025	199,618	318,245,044	382,152,040	82,346,182	115,988,733	2,920,777	3,650,859
Rail transportation	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
Water transportation	1,921	1,890	24,019,168	23,331,333	2,834,114	3,194,391	72,857	66,153
Truck transportation¹	103,798	112,642	141,225,398	164,218,769	38,471,272	47,750,111	1,293,790	1,435,210
Pipeline transportation	2,311	2,188	26,836,992	22,031,419	2,660,576	2,476,638	49,280	36,790
Support activities for transportation	30,675	33,942	39,758,245	57,414,131	12,592,441	16,202,043	411,640	465,616
Couriers and messengers	10,887	12,655	39,812,433	58,164,869	14,071,630	17,175,401	530,839	561,514
Warehousing and storage¹	6,497	12,671	10,657,925	16,547,657	2,926,119	17,183,289	109,760	565,533

Key: NA = not available.

¹Enterprise support establishments are included in 2002 but not 1997, thus the two years are not comparable.

Notes:

Total includes air transportation, transit and ground passenger transportation, and scenic and sightseeing transportation. Data are for establishments in which transportation is the primary business. Data exclude transportation provided privately, such as trucking organized “in-house” by a grocery company. Data are not collected for rail transportation nor for governmental organizations even when their primary activity would be classified in industries covered by the census. For example, data are not collected for publicly operated buses and subway systems.

Sources:

U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, 2002 Economic Census, Transportation and Warehousing, United States, available at www.census.gov/econ/census02/data/us/US000_48.HTM as of April 24, 2008; U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, 1997 Economic Census, Transportation and Warehousing, United States, available at www.census.gov/epcd/ec97/us/US000_48.HTM as of April 24, 2008.

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