Table 3-2: Shipment Characteristics by Total Modal Activity for the United States: 2002
Table 3-2: Shipment Characteristics by Total Modal Activity for the United States: 2002
(Commodity Flow Survey data)
| Mode of transportation1 | Ton-miles3 | Average miles per shipment | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number (millions) | Percent | ||
| Total | 3,204,410 | 100.0 | 575 |
| Truck | 1,318,383 | 41.1 | 191 |
| Rail | 1,275,195 | 39.8 | 975 |
| Shallow draft | 271,371 | 8.5 | 496 |
| Great Lakes | 50,490 | 1.6 | 491 |
| Deep draft | 110,919 | 3.5 | 1,517 |
| Air | 5,388 | 0.2 | 1,771 |
| Parcel, U.S. Postal Service, or courier | 20,536 | 0.6 | 910 |
| Pipeline2 | S | S | S |
| Other and unknown modes | 76,587 | 2.4 | 153 |
1 Estimates represent activity for a given mode across single and multiple mode shipments. For example, "Truck" ton-miles includes total ton-miles for shipments moving only by truck plus ton-miles for truck segments of multiple mode shipments.
2 Estimates for pipeline exclude shipments of crude petroleum.
3 Ton-miles estimates are based on estimated distance traveled along a modeled transportation network.
KEY: S = withheld due to high sampling variability or poor response quality.
NOTES: The data presented in these tables exclude shipments from the following establishments classified in the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) as: farms, forestry, logging, fisheries, construction, publishing, and crude petroleum production; households; governments; and most retail and service businesses. Also excluded are most imports and commodities shipped from a foreign location to another foreign destination that pass through the United States. Estimates are preliminary and may be revised.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics and U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, 2002 Commodity Flow Survey: United States Preliminary Report, Washington, DC: December 2003.