- Employment: In 2010, the trucking industry in Minnesota provided 121,560 jobs, or one out of 18 in the state. Total trucking industry wages paid in Minnesota in 2010 exceeded $5.5 billion, with an average annual trucking industry salary of $45,178. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in May 2010 that truck drivers, heavy, tractor-trailer and light, delivery drivers, held 43,320 jobs with a mean annual salary of $35,660.
- Small Business Emphasis: In 2011, there were over 14,370 trucking companies located in Minnesota, most of them small, locally owned businesses. These companies are served by a wide range of supporting businesses both large and small.
- Transportation of Essential Products: Trucks transported 85 percent of total manufactured tonnage in the state in 2010 or 528,529 tons per day. Over 68 percent of Minnesota communities depend exclusively on trucks to move their goods.
TRUCKING PAYS THE FREIGHT
- As an Industry: In 2009, the trucking industry in Minnesota paid approximately $680 million in federal and state roadway taxes and fees. The industry paid 33 percent of all taxes and fees owed by Minnesota motorists, despite trucks representing only 8 percent of vehicle miles traveled in the state.
- Individual Companies: In 2011, a typical five-axle tractor-semitrailer combination paid $6,096 in state highway user fees and taxes in addition to $7,771 in federal user fees and taxes. These taxes were over and above the typical taxes paid by businesses in Minnesota.
- Roadway Use: In 2008, Minnesota had 138,242 miles of public roads over which all motorists traveled 58 billion miles. Trucking’s use of the public roads was 4.4 billion miles.
SAFETY MATTERS
- Continually Improving: At the national level, the large truck fatal crash rate for 2009 was 1.04 fatal crashes per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT). This rate is at its lowest point since the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) began keeping these records in 1975. Since that time, it has dropped 77 percent.
- Sharing the Road: The trucking industry is committed to sharing the road safely with all vehicles. The Share the Road program sends a team of professional truck drivers to communities around the country to teach car drivers about truck blind spots, stopping distances and how to merge safely around large trucks, all designed to reduce the number of car-truck accidents.
- Safety First: Minnesota Trucking Association members put safety first through improved driver training, investment in advanced safety technologies and active participation in industry safety initiatives at the local, state and national levels.
TRUCKS DELIVER A CLEANER TOMORROW
- Fuel Consumption: The trucking industry continues to improve energy and environmental efficiency even while increasing the number of miles driven. In 2009, combination trucks consumed over 57 billion fewer gallons of fuel than passenger vehicles in the U.S. and accounted for just 17 percent of the total highway transportation fuel consumed.
- Emissions: Through advancements in engine technology and fuel refinements, new diesel truck engines produce 98 percent fewer particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions than a similar engine manufactured prior to 1990. Sulfur emissions from diesel engines have also been reduced by 97 percent since 1999.
- Partnerships: Through the U.S. EPA’s SmartWay Transport Partnership, the trucking industry is working with government and businesses to quantify greenhouse gas emissions and take steps to reduce them.
Data provided by the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) - www.atri-online.org
