*Some fleet!
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Increasing demand for road haulage in the USA over the next 12 years will necessitate the employment of a truck fleet of 25m vehicles, says the American Trucking Associations' research department in a report just published. And it believes that a large part of this demand will be met by the use of twin-trailer combinations which have "an outstanding record of performance". Seems to me there is a hint there for the UK, where the possibility of big drawbar outfits and double-bottom combinations is mooted from time to time without much success.
But I was surprised to see the report's forecast that road haulage ton-miles will only grow from 22 per cent to 25 per cent of the USA's total inland freight movement between now and 1980. This is small compared with probable growth in the UK, where road already has a vastly bigger share anyway. The railways may be in financial straits in the States, but they are expected to be carrying the biggest single share of freight-35 per cent—in 1980.
However, ton-mileage is not the only thing that matters. Even if the road haulier has only 25 per cent of the market in 12 years' time, he is expected to have 61 per cent of the freight revenue—confirming that the railWays tend to get the low-rated traffics. But it as another surprise to me to learn that pipelines are expected to have 23 per cent of the US freight ton-mileage in 1980, and the airlines only 1 per cent.