The Truck Industry in Numbers

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The truck industry is a vital cog in countless machines. From delivering personal packages to carrying food to supermarkets, it’s safe to say that the truck industry is a major contributor to the global economy.

Planes, trains, and ships are able to move the biggest quantities of goods at any one time, but that trucks are by far the most crucial mode of transport. In the following paragraphs we’ll take a look at the truck industry in numbers. You’ll gain a detailed insight into everything from the number of jobs created to the impact that trucks have on the environment.

Millions of jobs created

The truck industry is responsible for millions of jobs worldwide, 5.7 million, to be precise. That being said, countries like the UK are still crying out for truck drivers, making it an ideal option for most people who are currently seeking work.

In the UK alone there is a driver shortage of 35,000, so that’s 35,000 jobs that need filling. With the country recently coming out of a recession and unemployment numbers still being high, now is the perfect time to consider retraining as a truck driver if you are looking to find a new career and get regular work. Take a look at this infographic on global transport facts.

The environment

The environment has long been a main talking point and it’s safe to say that there is no chance of that changing in the future. With motor companies investing £millions in developing more fuel efficient and greener vehicles, the CO2 emissions of trucks is something that is regularly spoken about within the industry.

To put it into numbers for you 13% of global CO2 comes from transport and of this trucks account for 23%. Unsurprisingly cars are the largest contributor to CO2 emissions in the transport sector with 57% of the pie.

With so many trucks on the road travelling across the globe the amount of fuel they consume is astronomical. The number changes by the second but we are talking about millions of litres every year. Consequently, drivers will want to get the biggest bang for their buck and make their journeys as fuel efficient as possible.

Not only does making your vehicle more fuel efficient lighten the load on the environment, it also means less time spent at the petrol station, which can only have a positive effect on a trucker’s wallet. Just by altering their driving style truckers will be able to save a few trips to the pump every year.

The sheer size

Trucks are large vehicles, there’s no denying that. The typical length of a truck is 53 feet and the average weight of a fully loaded truck tends to be in excess of 44,000kg. It’s no wonder that you need a special license to be qualified to get behind the wheel of these mammoth vehicles.

Mileage accumulated by truckers

Truckers can often find themselves driving the length and breadth of a country or even across entire continents. They’ll spend hours behind the wheel and rack up thousands of miles each year. In fact since you started reading this article over 4 million miles have been driven by truckers across the globe.

Your average truck driver can easily spend 10 hours per day behind the wheel and in that time accumulate between 400 and 600 miles. This means that in a day and a half of work your typical truck driver will have driven the distance between John o’Groats and Land’s End. When you add that sort of distance up over a year, most truck drives will accumulate between 100,000 and 110,000 miles, which is more than ten times what your average person drives in their car each year.