ALEXANDRIA, Va. (May 5, 2005) — The American Trucking Associations has released its U.S. Freight Transportation Forecast that states trucking will increase its share of the nation’s freight pool and continue to dominate freight movement into the next decade.

The report, which predicts the present and future of the entire U.S. freight transportation industry to 2016, anticipates growth for most sectors, greater cooperation between modes over the next ten years, and an even greater role for trucking in moving the nation’s economy.

“Trucking is big and getting bigger,” ATA President and CEO Bill Graves said, “and trucks will remain, far and away, the dominant mode in transporting general commodities. Our share of total freight revenue will approach 88 percent by the end of the forecast period.”

U.S. trucking also will increase total annual tonnage to 13 billion tons, giving it 69.1 percent of the total tonnage market by 2016. “Trucking by its very nature is more flexible than other modes and is better able to respond quickly to meet the needs of the marketplace, maintaining its dominant role in freight transport,” Graves said.

The forecast also predicts growth in rail intermodal and air transport. Although neither mode will have more than 2 percent of the total tonnage market share by 2016, these two modes represent the fastest-growing segments over this time and highlight the importance of intermodal movements in the future, the report says.

Overall rail tonnage is estimated to reach 2.56 billion tons in 2016, up from 2.06 billion tons in 2004, giving it 13.6 percent of the total tonnage market. Rail intermodal service, driven by higher merchandise import and export volumes and domestic manufacturing, will continue to lead to growth in the use of domestic containers and new investment in intermodal infrastructure and equipment.

Although trucks will remain the dominant mode of freight transport, as the U.S. becomes more of a finished goods manufacturer, importing more semi-finished products that go through their final stage of production in the United States, ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said rail intermodal will become more important to trucking. Increased use of rail intermodal, for example, will benefit local and short-haul carriers, which provide drayage. Rail intermodal revenue is expected to grow to $19 billion by 2016 from $8.6 billion last year.