Average Freight Revenue Per Ton-mile Price Index (1990 = 100)

Air carrier, domestic Truck Class I rail Water Transportation, domestic Oil pipeline
350 Producer Price Index

300

250

200

150

100

50

0
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

Freight revenue per ton-mile continues a general trend upwards for all modes of transportation, with the most increases for
oil pipelines and trucks, and the least increase for railroad.

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Air carrier 129 97 83 86 96 111 122 123 138
Truck 146 141 131 132 142 159 175 173 209
Class I rail 85 84 85 86 89 99 107 113 126
Water Tran 97 95 120 125 129
Oil pipeline 106 110 109 107 109 106 120 132 125
Producer P 116 118 117 120 125 131 135 140 149
990 = 100)
estic Oil pipeline

2020 2021 2022

n, with the most increases for

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
118 136 217 224 227 228 208 201 210 230
157 187 229 219 209 231 232 227 221 239
113 125 141 149 152 153 149 150 151 159
188 184 200 224 236 238 229 212 193 203
144 134 157 184 204 217 233 241
145 151 160 163 165 168 163 161 166 171
2019 2020 2021 2022
231 206 226 257
243 253 317
166 166 173
227 207
259 266 279
173 170 185 211
Table 3-21: Average Freight Revenue Per Ton-mile (current cents)
1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Air carrier, domestica 22.80 20.46 21.91 28.22 46.31 48.77 59.71 60.95 63.07 65.62 65.52 65.13 71.54 71.10 78.71 78.23 77.14 57.64 49.54 51.43 57.61 66.34 72.90 73.69 82.39 70.19 81.48
Index (1990 = 100) 38 34 37 47 78 82 100 102 106 110 110 109 120 119 132 131 129 97 83 86 96 111 122 123 138 118 136
Truckb N N N N N 5.34 7.64 7.54 7.75 8.48 9.16 10.55 10.70 9.97 10.17 10.56 11.12 10.76 10.03 10.12 10.88 12.19 13.40 13.22 15.96 12.03 14.30
Index (1990 = 100) N N N N N 70 100 99 101 111 120 138 140 130 133 138 146 141 131 132 142 159 175 173 209 157 187
Class I rail 1.40 1.27 1.43 2.04 2.87 3.04 2.66 2.59 2.58 2.52 2.49 2.40 2.35 2.40 2.34 2.28 2.26 2.24 2.26 2.28 2.35 2.62 2.84 2.99 3.34 3.01 3.32
Index (1990 = 100) 53 48 54 77 108 114 100 97 97 95 94 90 89 90 88 86 85 84 85 86 89 99 107 113 126 113 125
Water Transportation, domestic N N N N N N 1.42 1.41 1.39 1.36 1.4 1.63 1.56 1.5 1.52 1.58 1.67 1.75 1.71 1.77 1.83 U U U U 2.67 2.61
Index (1990 = 100) N N N N N N 100 99 98 96 99 97 110 97 107 98 97 95 120 125 129 U U U U 188 184
Oil pipeline N N N U N N 1.22 1.18 1.21 1.17 1.23 1.28 1.18 1.17 1.11 1.17 1.30 1.34 1.33 1.31 1.34 1.30 1.47 1.61 1.53 1.76 U
Index (1990 = 100) N N N N N N 100 96 99 96 101 105 97 96 91 95 106 110 109 107 109 106 120 132 125 144 U
Producer Price Index (1990 = 100)c 28 29 33 49 74 88 100 102 103 105 105 107 110 111 110 112 116 118 117 120 125 131 135 140 149 145 151
KEY: N = data does not exist; R = revised; U = data are not available.

a
For 1990 and later, air carriers that did not report both financial data and all months of traffic data for a given period were excluded from the calculations. Cargo revenue includes both scheduled and charter property revenue and mail revenue.
b
General freight common carriers, most of which are LTL (less-than-truckload) carriers.
c
Total finished goods. Converted to 1990 base year index by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics and therefore not comparable to previous editions of this table.

NOTE
There is a break in the data from 1985 to 1990 for Truck, Barge, and Oil pipeline; therefore, data prior to 1990 cannot be indexed using 1990 as the base year because the data are incomparable.

SOURCES
Air carrier, domestic, scheduled service:
1960: Civil Aeronautics Board, Handbook of Airline Statistics, 1969 (Washington, DC: 1970), part III, tables 2 and 13.
1965-70: Civil Aeronautics Board, Handbook of Airline Statistics, 1973 (Washington, DC: 1974), part III, tables 2 and 13.
1975-80: Civil Aeronautics Board, Air Carrier Traffic Statistics (Washington, DC: 1976, 1981), pp. 4 and 14 (December 1976) and pp. 2 and 3 (December 1981).
1985: U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Office of Airline Information, Air Carrier Traffic Statistics (Washington, DC: Annual December Issues) (freight revenue ton-miles).
1990-2022: U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, TranStats Database, T-1, Schedule P-1.1, and Schedule P-1.2 data, available at http://www.transtats.bts.gov/ as of Sep. 22, 2023, special tabulation.
Truck:
As cited in U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Truck Profile, available at https://www.bts.gov/content/truck-profile as of May 24, 2023, special tabulation.
Class I rail:
Association of American Railroads, Railroad Facts (Washington, DC: Annual Issues), p. 34 and similar pages in previous editions.
Water Transportation, domestic:
1990-2004: Eno Transportation Foundation, Inc., Transportation in America (Washington, DC: 2007), p. 46.
2009-20: As cited in U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Water Transport Profile, available at https://www.bts.gov/content/water-transport-profile as of Jul. 7, 2022, special tabulation.
Oil pipeline:
1960-2007: PennWell Corporation, Oil and Gas Journal: Transportation Special Report (Houston, TX: September 2012 Issue), p. 127; and Association of Oil Pipe Lines, Shifts in Petroleum Transportation (Washington, DC: February 2012), table 1.
2008-22: PennWell Corporation, Oil and Gas Journal: Transportation Special Report (Houston, TX: October 2019 Issue), p. 44; and U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Freight Analysis Framework, available at https://www.bts.gov/faf, as of Oct. 6, 2023,
special tabulation.
Producer Price Index:
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Producer Price Index-Commodities, available at http://www.bls.gov/ppi/ as of May 24, 2023.