USA Banner

Official US Government Icon

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure Site Icon

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

U.S. Department of Transportation U.S. Department of Transportation Icon United States Department of Transportation United States Department of Transportation

Table 1-49M: U.S. Tonne-Kilometers of Freight

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Table 1-49M: U.S. Tonne-Kilometers of Freight

Excel | CSV

(Millions)

  1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
TOTAL U.S. tonne-kilometers of freight (millions) U (R) 1,735,956 (R) 1,990,983 (R) 2,672,780 (R) 3,552,874 (R) 3,415,473 4,839,335 4,888,912 4,990,309 5,020,175 5,277,541 5,502,687 5,582,528 5,555,831 5,594,959 5,704,438 5,704,172 (R) 5,740,348 (R) 5,802,335 (R) 5,879,297 U U U U U U
Air carrier, domestic, all servicesa 807 1,975 3,955 5,066 6,611 7,528 13,233 12,935 14,337 15,585 17,232 18,279 18,777 19,857 20,206 20,735 21,874 (R) 21,261 (R) 20,420 (R) 22,205 (R) 24,018 (R) 22,937 (R) 22,343 (R) 22,006 (R) 20,068 17,559
Intercity truck U U U U U U 1,246,816 1,276,016 1,308,135 1,366,534 1,454,132 1,521,291 1,563,630 1,633,709 1,677,508 1,731,527 1,756,346 1,787,006 1,832,265 1,845,405 U U U U U U
Class I rail 835,555 1,018,882 1,116,600 1,101,187 1,341,653 1,280,372 1,509,566 1,516,728 1,557,470 1,619,560 1,752,990 1,906,268 1,979,686 1,969,394 2,010,092 2,092,813 2,140,261 2,183,347 2,200,194 2,265,056 2,427,347 2,476,733 2,586,920 2,584,946 2,594,715 2,236,990
Domestic water transportationb,c U 715,099 870,428 826,321 1,345,855 1,303,711 1,216,951 1,238,639 1,250,736 1,152,878 1,189,759 1,179,260 1,116,421 1,032,799 982,262 957,539 942,849 907,644 893,620 884,957 906,891 863,248 819,962 807,585 759,945 696,584
Coastwise U 441,708 525,275 461,126 921,460 892,009 699,522 733,100 733,360 654,658 668,084 642,892 595,794 510,761 459,692 427,378 414,445 400,848 384,977 407,213 408,584 384,650 331,640 332,950 303,495 286,578
Lakewise U 110,838 115,946 100,033 90,149 70,347 88,956 80,794 81,444 82,398 85,063 87,166 85,168 90,760 90,014 83,284 84,502 74,245 78,332 69,406 81,369 75,808 77,532 75,762 73,383 48,923
Internal U 160,161 227,487 263,378 331,914 339,746 426,886 423,332 434,544 414,477 434,725 447,232 433,306 429,265 430,540 444,889 441,727 430,489 428,371 406,387 414,772 400,568 408,468 396,554 380,994 357,685
Intraport U 2,392 1,721 1,785 2,331 1,609 1,587 1,413 1,387 1,346 1,887 1,970 2,153 2,012 2,016 1,989 2,176 2,063 1,940 1,950 2,167 2,221 2,323 2,320 2,074 3,398
Oil pipelinec U U U 740,206 858,756 823,862 852,770 844,594 859,632 865,617 863,427 877,589 904,015 900,073 904,891 901,825 842,842 841,090 855,836 861,675 875,399 886,933 848,682 814,226 (R) 919,636 U

KEY: R = revised; U = data are unavailable.

a Includes freight, express, and mail revenue ton-miles as reported on U.S. DOT Form 41.

b Excludes intraterritorial traffic, for which ton-miles were not compiled.

c The large increase between1975 and 1980 was a result of a new Alaska pipeline and consequent water transportation of crude petroleum from Alaskan ports to the mainland United States for refining.

NOTES

Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding.

Eno Transportation Foundation has discontinued its intercity truck data for years prior to 1990.

1.459972 tonne-kilometers= 1 ton-mile.

SOURCES

Air carrier, domestic, all services:

1960-65: Civil Aeronautics Board, Handbook of Airline Statistics, 1969 (Washington, DC: 1970).

1970-80: Ibid., Air Carrier Traffic Statistics (Washington, DC: Annual Issues), p. 2, line 3.

1985-2000: U.S. Department of Transportation, Research and Innovative Technology Administration, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Office of Airline Information, Air Carrier Traffic Statistics (Washington, DC: Annual Issues), p. 3, line 3.

2001-2009: U.S. Department of Transportation, Research and Innovative Technology, Administration, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, TranStats table, available at http://www.transtats.bts.gov/Fields.asp?Table_ID=254 as of Jun. 21, 2011.

Intercity truck:

1960-2003: Eno Transportation Foundation, Inc., Transportation in America, 2007 (Washington, DC: 2007), p. 40.

Class I rail:

Association of American Railroads, Railroad Facts (Washington, DC: Annual Issue), p. 27.

Domestic water transportation:

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Waterborne Commerce of the U.S. (New Orleans, LA: Annual Issues), part 5, section 1, table 1-4, and similar tables in earlier editions available at http://www.iwr.usace.army.mil/ndc/wcsc/wcsc.htm as of Mar. 30, 2011.

Oil pipeline:

1975: Association of Oil Pipe Lines, Shifts in Petroleum Transportation (Washington, DC: Annual Issue), table 4.

1980-2008: Ibid., Shifts in Petroleum Transportation (Washington, DC: Annual Issues), table 1.