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by Michael Margreta, Chester Ford, and Ryan Grube

According to preliminary estimates from the 2012 Commodity Flow Survey (CFS), nearly 11.7 billion tons of freight, valued at $13.6 trillion, was transported about 3.3 trillion ton-miles in 2012 by shippers in manufacturing, wholesale trade, and mining in the United States¹ (see box A for description of the CFS).

Said another way, on a typical day in 2012, 32.0 million tons of goods, valued at $37.3 billion, moved nearly 9.1 billion ton-miles² on the Nation's transportation network.

Table 1: Value, Tonnage, and Ton-Miles of U.S. Shipments by Mode of Transport, Percent of Total: 2012

NOTE: A percent below 0.5 percent is marked by a dash (–) in the table.
NA = not available due to high sampling variability or poor response quality.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 2012 Commodity Flow Survey, preliminary data table 1, December 2013.

Table 2: Value and Tonnage of U.S. Highway Shipments: 2012

(1) Results are for highway shipments that were single mode and not transported by any other mode.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 2012 Commodity Flow Survey, preliminary data table 1, December 2013.

How Did Freight Move?

By Truck³

Trucking is the predominant mode in both value and tonnage of CFS shipments. In the 2012 CFS preliminary data, truck shipments accounted for:

• about $10.0 trillion worth of goods and 73.7 percent of the total value of all shipments (figure 1);
• about 8.2 billion tons of goods and 70.0 percent of all tonnage (figure 2);
• about 1.3 trillion ton-miles, representing approximately 38.1 percent of all ton-miles (figure 3); and
• an average distance of 216 miles per shipment (see table 1).

The CFS distinguishes between two categories of truck: for-hire⁴ and private.⁵ For-hire trucks handled more than half the tonnage and two-thirds the total value of goods moved by truck (table 2). Based on past surveys, truck moved the most total tonnage, largely comprised of gravel and crushed stone, gasoline, natural sands, fuel oils, and most mixed freight.

Goods moved by private truck typically travel much shorter distances than goods carried by for-hire trucks. The average miles per shipment by private truck in the 2012 CFS was 46 miles, compared to 489 miles by for-hire truck.

By Rail⁶

In the 2012 CFS, rail shipments accounted for:

• $455.1 billion worth of goods, 3.3 percent of the total value of shipments by all modes (figure 1);
• almost 1.9 billion tons of goods, about 15.8 percent of the total tonnage (figure 2);
• about 1.5 trillion ton-miles, 44.5 percent of all ton-miles (figure 3); and
• an average distance of 811 miles per shipment, showing the long-haul nature of the rail mode.

Based on past surveys, single-mode rail traffic is largely composed of heavy, bulk shipments, such as cereal grains, metallic ores, coal, and chemicals.

Figure 1: Value of U.S. Shipments by Mode of Transport, Percent of Total: 2012

Table version:

SOURCE:
U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 2012 Commodity Flow Survey, preliminary data table 1, December 2013.

Figure 2: Tonnage of U.S. Shipments by Mode of Transport, Percent of Total: 2012

Table version:

SOURCE:
U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 2012 Commodity Flow Survey, preliminary data table 1, December 2013.

Figure 3: Ton-Miles of U.S. Shipments by Mode of Transport, Percent of Total: 2012

Table version:

SOURCE:
U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 2012 Commodity Flow Survey, preliminary data table 1, December 2013.

By Water⁷

Whether traveling on inland waterways, deep sea waterways, or the Great Lakes, waterborne shipments in the 2012 CFS preliminary data accounted for:

• about $280.9 billion worth of goods (table 3), 2.1 percent of the total value of all shipments (figure 1);
• approximately 510.7 million tons of goods, 4.4 percent of all tonnage (figure 2);
• about 208.3 billion ton-miles, 6.3 percent of all ton-miles (figure 3); and
• an average distance of 842 miles per shipment.

Based on past surveys, bulk and low-value commodities are primarily transported by rail and water modes. In 2012 water shipments were valued on average at $550 per ton and rail shipments at $246 per ton (table 4), the two lowest modal values per ton in the 2012 CFS. Among the major commodity groups shipped in bulk via waterway are grains, gravel and crushed stone, coal, petroleum products, chemicals, and fertilizers.

The 2012 CFS improved the routing process to better reflect freight movement by water. In 2007 shipments that traveled by both river and ocean were primarily tabulated under "Other Multiple Modes." For 2012 shipments were assigned to their dominant waterway segment, and a new category of "Multiple Waterways" was created for shipments that are truly carried on both inland and deep sea vessels.

Table 3: Value and Tonnage of U.S. Waterborne Shipments: 2012

(1) Results are for waterway shipments that were only water mode and not transported by any other mode.

(2) There are three basic types of waterways shown in the Commodity Flow Survey: inland water, deep sea, and Great Lakes. Those waterway-only shipments that traveled on both inland water and deep sea are classified in Multiple Waterways.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 2012 Commodity Flow Survey, preliminary data table 1, December 2013.

Table 4: Value per Ton of U.S. Freight Shipments by Mode of Transportation: 2012

(1) Value per ton is defined as the average worth in current dollars of 1 ton of freight. This measure is computed by dividing the total value by the tons of freight originated.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 2012 Commodity Flow Survey, preliminary data table 1, December 2013.

By Other Modes

In 2012 demand remained steady for time-sensitive delivery modes, such as air and parcel,⁸ capable of providing delivery within three business days worldwide.⁹ The combined value of air and parcel shipments in 2012 totaled approximately $2.0 trillion, about 14.5 percent of total CFS value.

Based on past surveys, commodities shipped by air and parcel are generally high-value and low-weight: electronic and other electrical equipment, precision instruments, and pharmaceutical products.

To illustrate the high-value but low-weight relationship, the value-per-ton ratio for air shipments (including truck drayage to/from the airport) was $84,997 per ton, while the value-per-ton ratio for parcel shipments was $59,007 per ton (table 4).

Which Industries Were Shipping Goods?

Shipments by manufacturing industries accounted for 41.9 percent of total value (table 5, figure 4) and 37.0 percent of total weight (table 5, figure 5), as surveyed by the CFS.

Shipments by wholesalers accounted for 42.0 percent of total value and 30.9 percent of total weight. Auxiliary establishments¹⁰ shipped approximately $1.7 trillion of freight, accounting for 12.4 percent of total value.

Table 5: Value and Tonnage of U.S. Shipments by Industry, Percent of Total: 2012

NOTE: Industry categories are based on North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes, from 2 up to 6 digits. Mining encompasses those establishments with NAICS code 212; Manufacturing is those with NAICS codes 31 thru 33; Wholesale Trade is those with NAICS code 42; Auxiliary Industries are those with NAICS codes 4931 and 551114; Other Industries encompass establishments with any other NAICS codes.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 2012 Commodity Flow Survey, preliminary data table 5, December 2013.

Figure 4: Value of U.S. Shipments by Industry, Percent of Total: 2012

Table version:

SOURCE:
U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 2012 Commodity Flow Survey, preliminary data table 5, December 2013.

Figure 5: Tonnage of U.S. Shipments by Industry, Percent of Total: 2012

Table version:

SOURCE:
U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 2012 Commodity Flow Survey, preliminary data table 5, December 2013.

What Were the Leading Goods¹¹ Shipped by Value, Tonnage, and Ton-miles?

The top two commodity groups by value at $1.4 trillion and $1.2 trillion, respectively, were mixed freight¹² and fuels (gasoline, aviation turbine fuel, and ethanol, table 6). These two commodity groups accounted for about 18.8 percent of the total value of goods transported. Other leading commodity groups by value were electronic and electrical equipment, motorized and other vehicles, pharmaceutical products, and machinery, which totaled approximately $3.5 trillion or 25.8 percent of the total value of goods transported. When combined, the top six commodity groups accounted for about 44.6 percent of the total CFS value (table 6).

By weight, the top commodity group was gravel and crushed stone, accounting for nearly 1.8 billion tons or about 15.2 percent of total tonnage in the 2012 CFS (table 7). Gravel and crushed stone shipments were transported over relatively short distances, with an average mileage per shipment of 34 miles. Gravel and crushed stone shipments had a low bulk value of only $11 per ton.

In 2012 other leading commodity groups by weight included coal and fuels (gasoline, aviation turbine fuel, and ethanol). When combined, the top three commodity groups accounted for nearly 4.4 billion tons, or 37.6 percent of total tonnage.

Among the commodity groups, coal generated the most ton-miles (table 8). A total of 1.4 billion tons of coal was moved 982.5 billion ton-miles, which was about 29.6 percent of the total ton-miles recorded in the 2012 CFS. The primary U.S. coal deposits are found in the Powder River basin of Wyoming and the states of Kentucky, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania.¹³

Table 6: Value by Two-Digit Commodity Code: 2012

(1) Based on 2-digit code for Standard Classification of Transported Goods (SCTG).
(2) Horizontal lines and color codes are used within the table to group the commodities. Commodities within the same group, or the same color code, cannot be determined to be different statistically from one another. However, from top to bottom, a change in grouping, or a change in color, denotes a statistical decrease in level of value, based on statistical significance testing at the 95 percent confidence level.
(3) NEC = not elsewhere classified.

NOTE: The Commodity Flow Survey measures commodity traffic in forty-one 2-digit SCTG commodity groups. The top commodity groups by value are presented in this table.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 2012 Commodity Flow Survey, preliminary data table 6, December 2013.

Table 7: Tonnage by Two-Digit Commodity Code: 2012

(1) Based on 2-digit code for Standard Classification of Transported Goods (SCTG).
(2) Horizontal lines and color codes are used within the table to group the commodities. Commodities within the same group, or the same color code, cannot be determined to be different statistically from one another. However, from top to bottom, a change in grouping, or a change in color, denotes a statistical decrease in level of tonnage, based on statistical significance testing at the 95 percent confidence level.
(3) NEC = not elsewhere classified.

NOTE: The Commodity Flow Survey measures commodity traffic in forty-one 2-digit SCTG commodity groups. The top commodity groups by tonnage are presented in this table.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 2012 Commodity Flow Survey, preliminary data table 6, December 2013.

Table 8: Ton-Miles by Two-Digit Commodity Code: 2012

(1) Based on 2-digit code for Standard Classification of Transported Goods (SCTG).
(2) Horizontal lines and color codes are used within the table to group the commodities. Commodities within the same group, or the same color code, cannot be determined to be different statistically from one another. However, from top to bottom, a change in grouping, or a change in color, denotes a statistical decrease in level of ton-miles, based on statistical significance testing at the 95 percent confidence level.
(3) NEC = not elsewhere classified.

NOTE: The Commodity Flow Survey measures commodity traffic in forty-one 2-digit SCTG commodity groups. The top commodity groups by ton-miles are presented in this table.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 2012 Commodity Flow Survey, preliminary data table 6, December 2013.

About this report

This article was a collaborative effort on the part of the following from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS): Michael Margreta, Survey Statistician; Chester Ford, Transportation Industry Analyst; and Ryan Grube, Transportation Analyst from MacroSys Research and Technology. BTS is a component of DOT's Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology.

Throughout this report, comparisons are made between different entities (numbers, groups, classifications, categories, etc. developed from a sample), and an increase or decrease is cited as a percentage change or statistical difference. Such a change is only given if statistically significant at the 5 percent level. The 5 percent level means that there is a 5 percent chance that a statistically significant difference will be claimed between two different entities from the sample when, in fact, no such difference truly exists in the entire population.

For related BTS data and publications

For assistance or questions about this or other BTS reports, please use the following:

call 1-800-853-1351

e-mail answers@dot.gov or cfs@dot.gov

visit http://www.bts.gov or https://www.bts.gov/topics/commodity-flow-survey

¹Preliminary data tables 1 through 6 from the 2012 Commodity Flow Survey are available online at: http://www.bts.gov/publications/commodity_flow_survey/preliminary_tables_december_2013/index.html

²A ton-mile is defined as 1 ton of freight transported 1 mile.

³The type of truck shipments under discussion is single mode; that is, the shipments were not transported in combination with any other mode, such as rail, water, or air.

⁴For-hire means that the truck was operated on behalf of, or by, a nongovernmental business entity that provides transport services to its customers for compensation.

⁵Private means that the truck is not available to any other business entity, nor the public, and is owned and/or operated by an individual, group, or non-governmental business entity for its own purposes or benefits.

⁶The type of rail shipments under discussion is single mode; that is, the shipments were not transported in combination with any other mode, such as truck, water, or air.

⁷The type of water shipments under discussion is single mode; that is, the shipments were not transported in combination with any other mode, such as truck, rail, or air. Estimates in 2012 are not comparable to those in 2007 because waterborne mileages in the 2012 CFS were calculated using a different methodology.

⁸For the 2007 CFS, an air shipment was defined as weighing 100 pounds or more. Otherwise, the mode was changed to parcel on air shipments with weight less than 100 pounds. However, for the 2012 CFS, air shipments were accepted regardless of weight, and a parcel shipment was defined as weighing 150 pounds or less; otherwise, the mode was changed to for-hire truck on parcel shipments with weight more than 150 pounds.

⁹FedEx Annual Report 2013, annual report online, pages 17-21, at http://investors.fedex.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=73289&p=irol-reportsannual and UPS Annual Report 2012, annual report online, pages 22-24, at http://www.annualreports.com/Click/14356?_SID_=201402261434031f8d090bd5cd13bb313314be231b7e8a

¹⁰Auxiliary establishments are those specifically involved in warehousing and storage, or as corporate, subsidiary, and regional managing offices.

¹¹Commodity goods in the CFS are classified by Standard Classification of Transported Goods (SCTG) codes. Developed as a joint effort of the United States and Canada, the SCTG is a hierarchical coding system that groups commodities by transportation characteristics (volume, revenue, value, origin, and destination), similarities of goods, and industry-of-origin considerations, regardless of mode(s) of transport.

¹²Mixed freight includes items (food also) for grocery and convenience stores, supplies and food for restaurants and fast-food chains, hardware or plumbing supplies, and office supplies.

¹³Goode's World Atlas, 22nd Edition, published by Rand McNally & Company, July 2009.

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