Revenues for the truck transportation, warehousing and storage, and courier and messenger industries combined rose 2.8 percent to $242 billion in 2003 from $235 billion in 2002, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today.

     Truck transportation alone reached $172 billion in 2003, up 2.5 percent. Courier and messenger revenues grew 2.8 percent to $54 billion, and warehousing and storage revenues increased 5.8 percent to $16 billion.

     The report, 2003 Service Annual Survey: Truck Transportation, Couriers and Messengers, and Warehousing and Storage, showed the following highlights for employer firms:

• General freight trucking contributed about two-thirds of all trucking revenue, with $111 billion in 2003. Trucks transporting specialized freight (requiring equipment, such as flatbeds, tankers or refrigerated trailers) accounted for the remainder of revenue, at $60 billion.

• For-hire, local general freight trucking revenues grew 7.3 percent to $16 billion, while long-distance general freight revenues increased 2.0 percent to $95 billion.

• The cost of purchased transportation for trucking companies increased 6.5 percent to $35 billion, and motor carrier revenues were up 2.8 percent to $161 billion.

     Truck transportation excludes private motor carriers that operate as auxiliary establishments of non-transportation companies. Results of the survey also provide estimates for revenue by commodity shipped and inventories of revenue-generating equipment.

     Estimates in this report are based on data from the 2003 Service Annual Survey. They contain sampling and nonsampling errors. To keep the identity of an individual firm confidential, some estimates may be suppressed. Users making their own estimates, based on the survey estimates, should cite the U.S. Census Bureau as the source of the original estimates only. See <http://www.census.gov/econ/www/servmenu.html> for measures of sampling variability and other survey information.

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