The American Transportation Research Institute released a study of the impact ecommerce is having on the trucking industry.

“ATRI’s research provides a critical roadmap for trucking industry stakeholders to address the challenges and benefits of ecommerce and omni-channel retailing,” said Tom Benusa, chief information officer of Transport America. “These trends are game-changing, and our industry must adapt quickly to ensure that trucking continues to be the preeminent freight mode.”

Key findings in ATRI’s report include:

• From 1999-2017, ecommerce sales increased from less than 1% of total U.S. retail sales to more than 9%, reflecting a 3,000% increase in e-commerce sales.
• Annual growth of ecommerce has ranged between 13% and 16% over the last five years, outpacing the 1% to 5% annual growth in traditional retail sales.
• Retailers are becoming more flexible in how they transact with consumers by decentralizing their distribution/fulfillment networks to bring inventory closer to consumers.
• There were 2,130 fewer department stores and 385,000 fewer jobs at these stores in 2017 compared to 2015; there were 1,937 more courier services operating and just over 85,000 new employees hired in the sector during this time period.
• Last Mile Fulfillment Centers represented 73% of the industrial real estate market in 2017, a 15% increase from the previous year.
• Registrations for single-unit trucks increased by 7.8% between 2007 and 2016 compared to 4.4% growth in combination truck registrations.
• The number of intra-regional and last-mile truck trips has increased while the average length of haul has declined. Average trip lengths have decreased 37% since 2000, while urban vehicle miles traveled have increased for much of this time period.
• Intrastate and local hauls for ecommerce could serve as a training opportunity for 18-20-year-old drivers, representing a huge new pool of potential interstate CDL drivers.