Every day, trucks rush across the country as they take their large payloads from place to place. While their presence causes heavy traffic in more congested areas, trucks are vital in the distribution and exchange of the different commodities and resources we use. Let’s take a look at some of the top commodities shipped by truck, and see where they are headed.
Top Commodities Shipped by Truck
Truck–Zone Characteristics
Several industries use trucks in their operations and to meet those operations are a variety of trucks. Single-unit trucks travel regularly along urban roads because they are most commonly used for domestic deliveries. On the other hand, combination trucks find themselves on expressways, accumulating more mileage along national highways.
Top Commodities by Tonnage
In the United States, truck payloads account for 69 percent of the value and 64 percent of the weight (in tons) of product transported. The highest commodities moved by truck are gravel, nonmetallic mineral products, and cereal grains, more than 30 percent of all truck tons. However, all of these showed significant drops between 2007 to 2015, leading to an overall decline in the volume of product delivered via truck.
Top Commodities by Value
The highest value commodities shipped by truck are mixed freights, motorized vehicles, and electronics with freights seeing a notable increase between 2007 to 2015. The Freight Analysis Framework found strong growth in electronics, pharmaceuticals, miscellaneous manufactured products, and sharp recovery in machinery freight. In fact, electronics were found to be the top commodity in terms of value that is shipped by truck. Coming in at approximately $2 trillion worth of product, electronics account for more than 60 percent of the share of shipments.
Top 6 Freights Shipped by Fleet Trucks
Freight is a shipment of goods that are transported from one place to another. Fleet trucks, on the other hand, are trucks that a business or organization owns or leases. There are various types of freights that get transported every day. These may include necessities, such as groceries and food, or recreational items, such as toys and games. The top 6 types of freights shipped by fleet trucks are listed below. Aside from the product you are shipping, you must consider the time it will take to ship those products before selecting a specific truck freight service. Other factors like road closures, bad weather, or heavy traffic can have unpredictable effects on delivery time. Moreover, products can be handled differently, and considering the nature of your product will allow you to better select the appropriate service or hiring those with the requisite expertise.
Clothing
Clothes, aside from covering the body, can provide warmth and protection. Various designs and styles make for different purposes. Outfits are widely customizable, and clothes can affect one’s public image. In fact, clothing is a great way for people to express their personality. Clothes are very easy to handle and store as they are not perishable nor fragile.
Produce
Produce refers to fruits and vegetables grown on farms. This includes the ones you might find yourself eating regularly, such as broccoli, apples, oranges, and the like. As a result, produce is usually shipped in large amounts via fleet trucks. The fleet trucks carry numerous products to their destinations, and those products are priced and sold for more immediate consumption.
Paper Products
These are the papers we identify with similar construction, such as those used for print, labels, etc. This also includes cardboard, wood pellets, napkins, pulp boards, wood chips, and more. Paper products are easy to transport to places like home improvement stores and office supply stores.
Building Materials
Materials, such as steel beams, concrete slabs, pipes, logs, etc., are large and heavy. Therefore, companies prefer the use of oversized flatbed fleet trucks to ship them across large areas.
Vehicles
Cars, SUVs, and trucks are cautiously shipped on car carrier fleet trucks. Car carrier fleet trucks carry around 8-10 vehicles at a time.
Hazardous Chemicals
Hazardous chemicals, such as explosives, are very dangerous to transport, therefore, companies turn to ground shipment to keep the materials safe. As a result, when shipping hazardous materials, crews must adhere to strict regulations in order to prevent disaster.
The Junction LLC | Truckload Shipping
As a leader in the transportation industry, we demand excellence from our entire team. Our team at The Junction LLC strives to deliver the best possible customer service and by a desire to solve our customer’s toughest transportation and supply chain needs.
Our team is dedicated to serving our customers and will take the necessary action to deliver our customers’ products safely, efficiently, and on-time. This is our promise to you!
Nationwide Services include:
- FTL (Full Truck Load) Shipping
- LTL (Less Than Truck Load) Shipping
- Transportation of refrigerated, dry and bulk shipments
- 3PL Warehousing and Logistics
- Contract Warehousing
- Trucking Freight Brokerage
Trucking & Freight Shipping Services:
- Overweight,
- Over-dimension
- Time-sensitive shipments
- LTL (Less-Than-Truckload)
- FTL (Full Truckload)
- Flatbed
- Flatbed LTLRGN (removable gooseneck lowboy)
- RGN (removable gooseneck lowboy)
- Maxi’s / A-Train / B-Train
- Heavy Haul
- Over Dimensional
- Dry Van
- Dry Van LTL
- Refrigerated
- Refrigerated LTL
- Power Only
Additional Services:
- Our sister companies can also provide warehousing in our food-grade facilities, cross-docking, and contract warehousing.