"The Commodity Flow Survey gives us a comprehensive picture of the movement of goods throughout the entire country. Policy planners and decision makers use these figures to assess the demand for transportation facilities and services, to measure energy use, and to assess safety risk and environmental concerns," said Mark Wallace, chief of the Census Bureau's Service Sector Statistics Division.
The survey is undertaken as a partnership with the Research and Innovative Technology Administration, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. Department of Transportation, and is the primary source of national- and state-level data on domestic freight shipments. It provides data on the origins and destinations, value, weights, modes of transport, distance and ton-miles of commodities shipped.
Trucks were used to haul approximately 71 percent of the total value of commodities shipped in 2007, representing more than $8.3 trillion and 8.8 billion tons. An estimated $436.4 billion worth of commodities, or approximately 1.9 billion tons, were shipped by rail. Other modes of transportation included air, water and pipeline.
An estimated 55 percent of all tonnage traveled less than 50 miles. On average, for-hire truck shipments - freight carried by truck for a fee - traveled 599 miles while private truck shipments - freight carried by a truck owned by the shipper - averaged 57 miles.
Manufacturing establishments shipped 4.8 billion tons of commodities worth $5.2 trillion. Wholesale establishments accounted for an estimated $4.7 trillion of goods shipped, representing nearly 3.6 billion tons.
Hazardous material shipments accounted for more than $1.4 trillion of the total accounted for in the survey. These shipments weighed more than 2.2 billion tons, of which more than half was transported by truck.
The 2007 Commodity Flow Survey final data series includes Geographic Area Series with data provided for the nation, states and selected metropolitan areas.
