Revenues for the for-hire trucking industry totaled $113.858 billion during the first six months of the year, up 1.6 percent from the same 2012 period, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Quarterly Services Survey. A 4.7 percent increase in revenues in the dominant general freight segment — 70 percent of total trucking revenues — offset a 5 percent drop in revenues in specialized freight.
For the second quarter, total for-hire trucking revenues were $59.44 billion — up 9.2 percent from the first quarter and 2.3 percent from the second quarter 2012. Quarter over quarter, specialized freight revenues jumped 14.9 percent — not too surprising given that much of that is linked to construction, which is typically soft during the first quarter of the year. General freight revenues were up 6.9 percent. Year over year, however, specialized freight revenues fell 2.9 percent while general freight revenues rose 4.8 percent.
