OTTAWA, Ont. — Canadian trucking companies saw a revenue increase of 6.1 per cent in 2002 over 2001, says a report issued by Statistics Canada last week.

The roughly 2,000 long-distance, Canadian for-hire trucking companies with annual revenues of $1 million or more generated $15.6 billion in revenues in 2002, the report says.

These long-distance carriers hauled 294 million metric tonnes of freight, up 1.9 per cent.

Domestic shipments accounted for 72 per cent of this total tonnage and 53 per cent of revenues. Carriers hauled 31 million shipments within Canada, weighing 212.8 million tonnes. Domestic shipments generated 8.3 billion in revenues.

In terms of revenue, trucking continued to be the dominant mode for transporting goods between Canada and the United States. About 55 per cent of the exports to the United States and over 80 per cent of imports from the United States were moved by truck in 2002.

Transborder movements accounted for 21 per cent of total shipments and 47 per cent of revenues. Carriers hauled 7.9 million shipments across the Canada/U.S. border, with freight totalling 81 million tonnes. These transborder shipments generated $7.3 billion in revenues.

The most frequent single commodity moved to or from the United States, other than miscellaneous transported products, was vehicles including parts and accessories.
In total, the transportation sector employed 474,800 people in 2002. The trucking industry was by far the largest employer accounting for 34 per cent (or 163, 400) of the people working in the sector.

Data showed that carriers were generally profitable in 2002. For-hire trucking companies generated $19.3 billion in total revenues and had $18.3 billion in total expenses. The overall operating profit margin was lower at 5.1%, compared with 5.7 per cent in 2001. However, operating profit margins for large carriers (those with annual revenues of between $12 million and $25 million) increased from 3.9 per cent in 2001 to 4.7 per cent in 2002.

Stats Can also announced the 2002 issue of Trucking in Canada is now available.

Visit www.statscan.ca and search for Trucking in Canada to order a copy.