OTTAWA, Ont. – The Canadian trucking industry generated $67 billion in revenue in 2005 and heavy trucks travelled 21.5 billion kilometres according to Transport Canada’s latest Transportation in Canada report.

In 2005 general freight carriers accounted for 60% of the for-hire revenues of the industry. Carriers with annual revenues of $12 million or more accounted for 55.2% of all revenue generated by carriers with at least $1 million in annual revenue.

About 13% of kilometres travelled by trucks in 2005 were empty miles for heavy-duty trucks with medium-duty vehicles running about 5% of their miles empty.

A record 39,131 Class 8 trucks were sold in Canada in 2006, according to the report. There are 615,000 heavy trucks in Canada including 321,000 mid-sized trucks. Seventy-five per cent of Canada’s heavy truck fleet is based in Ontario (37%), Alberta (25%) and Quebec (13.5%).

Trucking accounted for 61% of trade with the US compared to 17% for rail, 13% pipeline, 5% air and 4% marine. In 2006 trucks carried $185.8 billion worth of goods into the US, down from $188.4 billion in 2005. About $166 billion worth of goods were shipped by truck into Canada from the US.

Construction materials were the most commonly trucked commodities shipped intraprovincially, followed by agricultural products, primary metals, metal and mineral products.

Interprovincially, the heaviest truck traffic was along the Quebec-Ontario corridor which alone accounted for $40.4 billion worth of commodities, 28% of all interprovincial trade.

The busiest transborder trucking routes were between Ontario and the central, south and northeast regions of the US. These accounted for nearly 80% of all transborder shipments.

Heavy truck activity between Canada and the US was down slightly in 2006 to 12.9 million two-way trips. That’s about 1% less than in 2005.

The average heavy-duty truck was driven 73,000 km compared to 19,000 km for medium-duty trucks.

Fuel efficiency among heavy trucks averaged 33 L/100 km with tractor-trailers averaging 35L/100 km.

There were 109,284 truck drivers employed in Canada in 2005 in the for-hire industry.