WASHINGTON — Cross-border freight volumes may be struggling now, but the downturn comes a year after the U.S. experienced its best freight hauling period ever.

The American Trucking Associations reports that highway carriers in 2006 hauled more goods than ever before in a single year — 69 percent of the total volume of freight transported in the United States. This equates to an all-time high carrying load of 10.7 billion tons, and $645.6 billion in revenue, representing 83.8 percent of the nation’s freight bill.

“Americans should understand that their national economy is directly linked to freight transportation,” said ATA President and CEO Bill Graves. “Trucking is the driving force behind our great economy. Safe, reliable and efficient motor carriers enable businesses throughout the entire supply chain to keep inventories lean, thereby saving the economy billions of dollars each year.

American Trucking Trends, an annual state of the industry report produced by ATA, reported that more than 26 million trucks of all classes played a part in reaching the tonnage milestone. Of this number, 2.9 million were typical Class 8 trucks operated by more than 750,000 interstate motor carriers.

Trucking also played an important role in trade exchanged between the United States and two of its largest trading partners, Canada and Mexico. Trucks transported 80.7 percent of the value of trade between the United States and Mexico in 2006 and 64.4 percent of the value of trade between the United States and Canada.

American Trucking Trends 2007-2008, provides information on U.S. truck tonnage, employment, freight revenues, shipment value, engine sales, modal share and international trucking. Topics explored also include safety statistics, top trailer manufacturers, highway-user taxes, U.S. motor carrier size and distribution, trucking employment by state, international trucking, fuel consumption and emissions data.

The report can be purchased at www.truckline.com/store or by calling (800) ATA-LINE.