Freight Facts and Figures 2010

Tables 2-4 and 2-4M. Hazardous Materials Shipments by Transportation Mode: 2007

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 accounts for only 5 percent of hazardous shipments by weight but nearly 29 percent of ton miles.

Table 2-4 (standard units)

Table in Excel format

Transportation mode	Value - $ Billion	Value - Percent	Tons - Millions	Tons - Percent	Ton miles - Billions	Ton miles - Percent	Miles - 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: February 2010), table 1a, available at www.bts.gov/publications/commodity_flow_survey/ as of May 25, 2010.

Table 2-4M (metric units)

Table in Excel format

Transportation mode	Value - $ Billion	Value - Percent	Metric tonnes - Millions	Metric tonnes - Percent	Tonne kilometers - Billions	Tonne kilometers - Percent	Kilometers - 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:

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