Line-haul is defined as "the movement of freight between terminals." More generally, line-haul railroads are those that transport passengers or freight long distances on a network of tracks that disperse goods and passengers across the United States. According to the Association of American Railroads, there were 571 common carrier freight railroads operating in the United States in 2001.
The roughly 3,000 stations and track terminals in the United States during the 2000s served about 15 large freight railroads and more than 600 small, regional railroads. As mass transit systems continued to spread across America, rail tracks and terminals shared by more than one railroad company became an increasing concern.
This industry consists of establishments primarily engaged in furnishing local and suburban mass passenger transportation over regular routes and on regular schedules, with operations confined principally to a municipality, contiguous municipalities, or a municipality and its suburban areas. Also included in this industry are establishments primarily engaged in furnishing passenger transportation by automobile, bus, or rail to, from, or between airports or rail terminals, over regular routes, and those providing bus and rail commuter services.
A diverse range of transportation modes makes up this industry classification. Among the types of companies in this group were ambulance services, limousine services (with drivers), and aerial tramways and cables cars that were not for amusement or scenic use.
In the latter 1990s, U.S. consumers spent an estimated $10.5 billion annually on taxis.
Intercity and rural bus transportation appears to be a declining industry. According to the Department of Transportation, only 15 companies were providing regular route intercity bus service, and only one carrier, Greyhound, maintained a national network in 2003, compared to 143 intercity bus companies in existence in 1960.
This category includes establishments primarily engaged in furnishing local bus charter service where such operations are located principally within a single municipality, contiguous municipalities, or a municipality and its suburban areas.
This category covers establishments engaged primarily in furnishing bus charter service, except local, where such operations are principally outside a single municipality, outside one group of contiguous municipalities, and outside a single municipality and its suburban areas.
This category covers establishments engaged primarily in operating buses to transport pupils to and from school. School bus establishments operated by educational institutions are considered auxiliaries.
In 2001, there were 1,031 establishments in the industry employing a total of 17,541 people. Combined, their annual payroll totaled $452.5 million.
This category covers establishments primarily engaged in furnishing trucking or transfer services without storage for freight generally weighing more than 100 pounds, in a single municipality, contiguous municipalities, or a municipality and its suburban areas. Establishments primarily engaged in furnishing local courier services for letters, parcels, and packages generally weighing less than 100 pounds are classified in SIC 4215: Courier Services Except Air; those engaged in collecting and disposing of refuse by processing and destruction of materials are classified in SIC 4953: Refuse Systems.
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, there were approximately 15.5 million trucks on U.S. roads, of which 1.9 million were tractor trailers.
The local trucking and storage industry consists of firms that provide storage, warehousing, and other services in addition to transport within an operating radius of 50 miles, which usually includes an urban area and its suburbs. The industry is divided between firms that transport and store furniture and household goods locally and firms that transport and store other goods locally.
By the early 2000s, courier services were a multi-billion-dollar U.S. industry.
In 2001, there were 358 firms operating 552 establishments in this industry. Total employment was 5,459 with a payroll of more than $147 million.
In 2001, a total of 607 firms operated 942 refrigerated warehousing and storage establishments. There were 28,231 employees receiving a total payroll of $853.7 million.
At the turn of the century there were over 7,100 warehouse establishments operating in the United States, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's Statistical Abstract of the United States.
The special warehousing and storage industry is a heterogeneous group of companies serving a variety of niche-oriented markets. Businesses in this industry serve clients with both specific and unique storage needs.
This category includes establishments primarily engaged in the operation of terminal facilities used by highway-type property carrying vehicles. Also included are terminals that provide maintenance and service for motor vehicles.
This industry includes all establishments of the United States Postal Service.
Deep sea foreign transportation of freight is greatly affected by the global economy and international competition. U.S.
Deep sea domestic transportation of freight is part of a massive interrelated system of transport of manufactured and raw materials. According to the U.S.
This category covers establishments primarily engaged in the transportation of freight on the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway, either between U.S.
This category includes establishments primarily engaged in transportation of freight on all inland waterways, including the intracoastal waterways on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. Transportation of freight on the Great Lakes and the St.
This category includes establishments primarily engaged in operating vessels for the transportation of passengers on the deep seas.
In 2000, there were 224 ferry operators in the United States. Operators provided ferry service on 487 nonstop ferry route segments, comprising 352 ferry routes and serving 578 ferry terminal locations.
This category covers establishments primarily engaged in furnishing water transportation of passengers, not elsewhere classified.
More than two billion tons of foreign and domestic commerce move through U.S. ports each year.
This classification covers establishments primarily engaged in furnishing marine towing and tugboat services in the performance of auxiliary or terminal services in harbor areas. The vessels used in performing these services do not carry cargo or passengers.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 1999 there were 8,200 U.S.
The scheduled air transportation industry primarily has been engaged in furnishing passenger air transportation over regular routes and on regular schedules. This industry includes Alaskan carriers operating over regular or irregular routes.
The air courier services industry includes establishments primarily engaged in furnishing air delivery of individually addressed letters, parcels, and packages (generally under 100 pounds), except by the U.S. Postal Service.
This category includes establishments primarily engaged in furnishing nonscheduled air transportation. Also included in this industry are establishments primarily engaged in furnishing airplane sightseeing services, air taxi services, and helicopter passenger transportation services to, from, or between local airports, whether or not they are scheduled.
The North American Airports Council International (NAACI) estimates that the total economic impact of U.S. airports grew from $379.7 billion to $506.5 billion, in terms of output, between 1997 and 2001.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau's Statistical Abstract of the United States, in 2000 there were 307 firms involved in crude oil pipeline transportation, with revenues totaling $4.4 billion.
Pipelines are the leading method of transporting refined petroleum, and they are an especially important mode of transportation in the United States where large volumes of oil must be moved over land. Manufacture of refined petroleum is classified in SIC 2911: Petroleum Refining; fuels classified as refined petroleum products include gasoline, kerosene, distillate fuel oils, residual fuel oils, and lubricants—essentially any product made from the distillation of crude oil or redistillation of unfinished petroleum derivative.
This category covers establishments primarily engaged in the pipeline transportation of commodities, except crude petroleum, refined products of petroleum, and natural gas. Establishments primarily engaged in the pipeline transportation of refined petroleum are classified in SIC 4613: Crude Petroleum Pipelines, and those engaged in natural gas transmission are classified in SIC 4922: Natural Gas Transmission and Distribution.
Travel agents have been significantly affected by two factors in the early 2000s. First, travelers are increasingly using the Internet to book their travel, bypassing traditional agents.
This classification comprises establishments primarily engaged in arranging and assembling tours for sale through travel agents. Tour operators primarily engaged in selling their own tours directly to travelers are also included in this industry.
This category covers establishments primarily engaged in arranging passenger transportation, not elsewhere classified, such as ticket offices, not operated by transportation companies, for railroads, buses, ships, and airlines.
This category includes establishments primarily engaged in furnishing shipping information and acting as agents in arranging transportation for freight and cargo. Also included in this industry are freight forwarders, which undertake the transportation of goods from the shippers to receivers for a charge covering the entire transportation, and, in turn, make use of the services of other transportation establishments as instrumentalities in effecting delivery.
This category includes establishments primarily engaged in renting railroad cars, whether or not also performing services connected with the use thereof, or in performing services connected with the rental of railroad cars. Establishments, such as banks and insurance companies, which purchase and lease railroad cars as investments are classified based on their primary activity.
Approximately 1,205 firms operated 1,246 establishments in this industry in 2001, employing 13,187 workers with an annual payroll of $344.6 million. Most of these were small or medium-sized establishments; only 31 firms employed more than 100 workers.
This category covers establishments primarily engaged in the inspection and weighing of goods in connection with transportation or in the operation of fixed facilities for motor vehicle transportation, such as toll roads, highway bridges, and other fixed facilities, except terminals. Included in this industry category are companies that check boat cargo before it is transported on trucks; operate highway bridges, tunnels, and toll bridges; operate truck weighing stations; and conduct various inspections.
This category covers establishments primarily engaged in furnishing transportation or services incidental to transportation that are not classified elsewhere. Included in this industry are stockyards that do not buy, sell, or auction livestock; and pipeline terminals.
The first wireless telecommunication services, apart from radio, were developed in the 1960s, and the first experimental cellular systems were installed in 1979. Even by 1985, only a few hundred thousand Americans were using cellular telephones.
Since the invention of the telephone in 1877, the demand for telecommunication services has steadily expanded. Even when competition from wireless systems increased during the 1980s, wireline service sales grew at a rate of more than 5 percent annually, and long distance calling volume expanded by 12 percent.
The telegraph and other message services industry was an industry in decline at the end of the 1990s. Although the telegraph was the oldest form of telecommunications, it has been steadily replaced by newer forms of data transmission such as e-mail over the Internet.
This industry consists of establishments engaged in broadcasting radio programs to the public. This includes commercial, religious, and educational stations and establishments primarily engaged in broadcasting and broadcasters that produce radio program materials used by other stations.
During the early 2000s, the television broadcasting industry was challenged by weak economic conditions that had a negative impact on corporate spending and thus advertising revenues. This decline included the fall of many "dot-com" companies that previously had spent hefty sums on advertising.
The cable television industry was developed in the United States in the late 1940s to serve small communities unable to receive conventional television signals due to difficult terrain or physical distance from television stations. Cable also provided improved television reception to remote areas.
Because of an increased interest in communications technologies and information transmission, satellite systems have been driving growth and commanding high visibility in SIC 4899: Communications Services, Not Elsewhere Classified. Difficult economic times and a weak telecommunications market had a negative impact on the industry during the early 2000s.
This industry classification includes establishments engaged in generating, transmitting, and distributing electricity. Establishments providing electric services in combination with other services, where the electric services account for less than 95 percent of revenues, are classified in SIC 4931: Electric and Other Services Combined; SIC 4932: Gas and Other Services Combined; or SIC 4939: Combination Utilities, Not Elsewhere Classified according to the major service supplied.
Natural gas, as it exists in the ground, is not a single kind of gas, but rather a mixture of hydrocarbons, molecules made up of hydrogen and carbon, existing naturally in a gaseous state. The hydrocarbon gases include methane, ethane, propane, butane, and, frequently, impurities such as water, hydrogen sulfide, nitrogen, and helium.
Composed almost entirely of methane, natural gas is a combustible gaseous fuel used in residential and commercial applications. It is produced, transported, and consumed in measures associated with cubic feet.
From the years 2000 to 2015, natural gas consumption in the United States is expected to increase 25 to 30 percent (or about 2 percent annually, according to the U.S. Department of Energy).
Manufactured gas, liquefied petroleum products (LPG), and gas mixtures play an important role in specific industrial applications and in places beyond the reach of natural gas pipelines. Some of the most widely used manufactured or liquefied petroleum gases include coke oven gas, water gas, naphtha gas, acetylene, propane, and butane.
The roots of the U.S. electric utility industry can be traced back to 1878, when the first private electric company, Edison Electric, began operating in New York City.
Gas utilities, called local distribution companies (LDCs), provide customers with two services: gas transportation, or moving the gas from the pipeline to the customer, and supply, whereby the LDC buys the gas and resells it to the customer. The LDC transports gas for all its customers and supplies gas to other suppliers.
This industry classification includes combination electric and natural gas utilities not categorized elsewhere.
The oceans, land, and atmosphere that make up and surround the earth hold the equivalent of nearly 1.4 billion cubic kilometers of water. Of that total, approximately 96.5 percent is contained in oceans, 2 percent is in the form of ice, and a small amount exists as vapor in the atmosphere.
This category includes establishments primarily engaged in the collection and disposal of wastes transported through a sewer system. These private and public organizations usually treat the wastewater they collect before discharging it into the environment.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the refuse industry was struggling to overcome the effects of a recession, which included reduced waste and a more competitive business environment. Many refuse companies were also buckling under stringent new environmental regulations.
This category includes establishments primarily engaged in cleanup and maintenance activities that are not classified in other sanitary industries. Activities covered by this industry classification include beach maintenance and cleaning, malaria control, mosquito eradication, oil spill cleanup, snowplowing, street sweeping, and vacuuming airport runways.
This industry comprises companies that produce and/or distribute steam and heated or cooled air for sale.
As environmentalists, scientists, health officials, and policy analysts looked ahead to the most pressing problems facing the twenty-first century, the balance of demand and availability of fresh water was near the top of the list of concerns. With population figures booming through much of the world, particularly in developing countries, coupled with skyrocketing demand for clean water and delicate and imperiled ecosystems depending on ever more precarious water supplies, it was believed that innovative irrigation systems were required to stave of environmental and social catastrophe.