pass
price inelastic - correct answer ✔✔resistant to price changes
Demand is - correct answer ✔✔price elastic
Modal or specific-carrier demand - correct answer ✔✔service elastic
Transportation demand is - correct answer ✔✔derived demand
What are modes of transportation? - correct answer ✔✔Trucking
Rail
Air
Domestic water
International water
Pipeline
Trucking - correct answer ✔✔- Trucking is the dominant form of transportation in the United
State
- The US trucking industry proliferated after the construction of the interstate highway system
began in 1956
Trucking Service Characteristics - correct answer ✔✔- Door-to-door domestic service
, - Fastest mode for shipments within 500-mile radius - Achieves a volume discount with low
volume (compared to rail and barge) due to smaller carrying capacity, but equipment suffers
from weight and volume restrictions more than other modes
- Relatively low susceptibility to damage
- For-hire segment is custom market oriented and will respond to customer or service needs due
to competitive pressure
Truckload TL Transportation - correct answer ✔✔- Truckload carriers typically move a full
truckload of freight from a single origin point (called the "shipper") to a single destination
(called the "consignee")
- Large TL carriers—Knight-Swift, Schneider, Landstar, JB Hunt, Prime, Werner Enterprises, CRST,
Crete, US Xpress, CR England, Covenant Transportation, Heartland Express, Ruan, Marten
Transport, P.A.M. Transport
Cost structure - correct answer ✔✔majority of costs are variable (only fixed costs are
equipment and insurance). A motor carrier can be formed with as little as $5,000 to $10,000 in
equity. The (relatively) current cost of operating a tractor trailer was $1.38 per mile (
Operating ratio - correct answer ✔✔—cents per dollar of operating ratio that are consumed by
operating expenses. For example, an operating ratio of 85 means that 85 cents of out of every
$1.00 of operating revenue are used to pay operating expenses. The lower the operating ratio,
the higher the operating profit for the carrier.
- Operating ratio fluctuates over time, but large public trucking companies typically have
operating ratios in the 90s.
- Smaller carriers often have operating ratios close to 100 or even over 100. - The best trucking
companies have operating ratios in the 80s.