The Freight Trucking Industry is the cornerstone of the U.S. economy, with 70% of all freight moved in the U.S. being transported by trucks . The industry consists of both local and long distance freight transportation. The Freight Trucking Industry is responsible for transporting raw materials, manufacturing output, finished goods, and more. It is vital to the manufacturing, retail, and warehousing industries.
The trucking industry is relatively homogenous and perfectively competitive in nature. The industry has over 350,000 companies with a combined annual revenue of nearly 200 billion . Also, it averages 10.5 billion tons of freight annually, consuming 38 billion gallons of diesel fuel in the process, and driven by a work force of 3.5 million truck drivers.
The freight trucking industry is forecasted to grow at 2.1 percent this year and maintain this growth over next five years . This growth rate combined with its relatively stable number of companies, and established processes puts it in the mature stage of the industry life cycle.
Concentration of Industry:
The Freight Trucking in the US industry is perfectly competitive, with very low concentration . In fact, 90% of the companies in the US freight trucking industry are owner-operators who drive their own trucks. The industry is characterized by its aggressive
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Additionally, talent attraction is a large hindrance to trucking company success, giving large companies an advantage as they have large access to drivers. While limited in talent needed, only requiring a CDL license and strong vision/hearing to drive, trucking is an unattractive job due to long required hours. Due to small margins, large sales is crucial for long term success. Because of this, it is forecasted that industry concentration will increase due to continual mergers and acquisitions between companies within the industry, within the next five