Using the latest federal and industry data, drayage (container trucking to/from marine terminals and rail ramps) is roughly ~3% of U.S. trucking by tonnage and ~3% by revenue. The tonnage estimate comes from 2023 containerized import/export weights reported by the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) benchmarked against ATA’s 2023 trucking tons. The revenue share uses IANA’s drayage revenue estimate against ATA’s 2023 trucking revenue.
What Counts as “Drayage” Here
Short-haul container moves tied to marine terminals (port → warehouse/transload/rail) and rail ramps (ramp ↔ shipper), including the first/last mile around an intermodal rail move. This excludes long-haul truckload and LTL linehaul; the goal is to isolate the container first/last-mile slice.
The Numbers
1) The Denominator: Total U.S. Trucking
- Tonnage: Trucks moved ~11.18 billion tons in 2023 (ATA).
- Revenue: Trucking generated ~$1.004 trillion in 2023 (ATA).
2) A Clean, Conservative Drayage Tonnage Proxy
- Containerized imports (2023): ~209.8 million short tons (BTS).
- Containerized exports (2023): ~117.5 million short tons (BTS).
Baseline drayage tons ≈ 209.8 + 117.5 = 327.3 million short tons.
Share of trucking tons ≈ 327.3M ÷ 11,180M ≈ 2.9%.
Why this works: nearly every loaded containerized international move requires at least one truck dray—either at the seaport or at the inland rail ramp—even when on-dock rail handles the port side. Using the cargo’s shipping weight avoids double-counting multi-leg drays against ATA’s “primary shipment” tonnage.
Reasonable range. Add a modest allowance for domestic intermodal (pure rail-ramp drays that never touch a seaport) and it’ll edge the tonnage share up toward the low-3s. IANA/AAR report ~18 million rail intermodal loads annually; only a portion of these represent domestic containers that create drays outside ports, so we keep the headline at ~3% to stay conservative.
3) Revenue Share Cross-Check
Applying the IANA number to the U.S. trucking revenue gets a ~2.9% share. Because IANA’s figure is North America-wide, the U.S.-only drayage share is more likely just under 3%—still right in line with the tonnage result.
Assumptions
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Scope & units. BTS containerized weights are short tons; ATA tonnage is primary shipments. Using containerized import/export weight once (not multiplying by the number of dray legs) keeps the comparison conservative and apples-to-apples.
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On-dock rail. Even where a port bypasses a truck move onto rail, an inland ramp dray almost always occurs at destination (or at origin for exports). The baseline still captures the minimum freight mass that creates drayage work.
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Domestic intermodal. We resisted bolting on a big adder. While rail intermodal handles ~18M loads/year, only the domestic subset adds drays outside ports, and some of those are operationally small. Hence the ~3% headline, not 4–5%.
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Latest revenue context. ATA notes 2024 trucking revenue eased to $906B (down from $1.004T in 2023). Benchmarking the same $28.7B against 2024 rounds the share a touch higher (~3.2%), but we keep 2023-vs-2023 for consistency.
What This Means If You’re Sizing the Opportunity
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It’s small by dollars, big by velocity. A ~3% revenue slice sounds small until you remember these are short-haul, high-turn moves where cycle time and appointment discipline make or break margins.
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Tech matters outsized. Pre-gate apps, slotting, and electronic interchange receipts (EIR/J1) compress dwell, reduce bobtails, and help capture accessorials—key levers when the TAM is thin but the throughput is large.
Sources
- ATA – American Trucking Trends (2024 & 2025 releases: tonnage and revenue).
- BTS – Containerized Imports/Exports (2023) – short tons and value.
- IANA – The Power of the North American Intermodal Industry (drayage moves & revenue).