By: Janet Harrah
This is the second in a series of blog posts highlighting data results from the 2012 Economic Census for the Cincinnati MSA. Last month we discussed Cincinnati’s manufacturing sector. This month we are focusing on the movement of goods originating in the Cincinnati metropolitan area.[1]
Commodity Flow Survey
The Commodity Flow Survey (CFS), undertaken through a partnership between the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) is conducted every 5 years (years ending in "2" and "7") as part of the Economic Census. The CFS produces data on the movement of goods in the United States. It provides information on commodities shipped, their value, weight, and mode of transportation, as well as the origin and destination of shipments of commodities from manufacturing, mining, wholesale, and selected retail and services establishments. It provides a modal picture of national freight flows, and represents the only publicly available source of commodity flow data for the highway mode.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
Summary
In 2012, commodity shipments originating in the Cincinnati metro area totaled $126.7 billion.[2] Kentucky’s $54.9 billion portion accounted for 43 percent of the metro area’s shipments while Ohio’s $71.7 billion portion accounted for 57 percent. More than 78 million tons of commodities were shipped from the area in 2012. Shipments from the Kentucky portion of the metro area averaged 878 miles per shipment compared to 498 miles for shipments originating in the Ohio portion of the metro area (see Table 1 for summary statistics).
Sharp readers will notice that in last month’s post the value of shipments for the metro’s manufacturers totaled $48 billion compared to the commodity flow total of $126.7 billion. Why the $79 billion difference? The $126.7 billion in commodity shipments includes shipments of commodities from mining, wholesale, selected retail and services establishments in addition to shipments from manufacturing establishments.
Shipments by Commodity
As shown in Table 2, vehicles and vehicle parts accounted for the largest portion of shipments (27 percent or $34.3 billion). No other commodity category accounted for 10 percent or more of total shipments. However, the combined agriculture and food products categories (02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07-R, 08-R, and 09) together totaled $13 billion or 10.3 percent of total shipments.
Again, sharp readers might be asking how the value for coal shipments can be zero when one can watch coal barges flowing past downtown Cincinnati nearly every day. These totals only include the value of shipments originating in the metro area. Coal does not start its journey from the mine in Cincinnati. Kentucky’s coal shipments of $5.8 billion are attributed to the “CFS area, Remainder of Kentucky.”
Shipments by Mode
The CFS provides data on the mode of transportation for commodity shipments. It is the only source of commodity flow data for the highway mode. As shown in Table 3, 75 percent of all Cincinnati metro shipments were by truck. Of the $95.4 billion shipped by truck, $71.3 billion (75 percent) was shipped by for-hire truck while $24 billion (25 percent) was shipped by private truck. The CFS defines private trucks as those operated by employees of the shipping establishment or the buyer/receiver of the shipment. It includes trucks providing dedicated services to an establishment. For hire trucks are defined as those operated by common or contract carriers made under a negotiated rate.
Shipments by Destination
Table 4 shows the value of shipments by destination. The Commodity Flow Survey covers shipments within the United States. In other words, the CFS does not capture the value of shipments to foreign locations. Outside of Kentucky and Ohio locations, Chicago ($4.8 billion), Los Angeles ($4.8 billion) and Buffalo, NY ($4.5 billion) metro areas account for the largest portion of the value of shipments. Approximately 40 percent of total shipments are shipped to a location in Kentucky, Ohio or Indiana.
Data Availability
Data are available for the United States, states, metro areas and balance of states. If you need data for other geographies, please contact CEAD at [email protected].
*Excludes the three Indiana counties that comprise a portion of the Cincinnati MSA. S = Withheld because estimate did not meet publication standards.
*Excludes the three Indiana counties that comprise a portion of the Cincinnati MSA. S = Withheld because estimate did not meet publication standards.
*Excludes the three Indiana counties that comprise a portion of the Cincinnati MSA. S = Withheld because estimate did not meet publication standards.
*Excludes the three Indiana counties that comprise a portion of the Cincinnati MSA. S = Withheld because estimate did not meet publication standards. **Definitions for Census regions and divisions are available here.
[1] CFS Areas are the smallest level of geographic detail for which the Commodity Flow Survey produces estimates. CFS Areas are of two general types: Metropolitan CFS Areas and Remainder of State CFS Areas, which contain those portions of a state not included in one of the metropolitan area type CFS Areas. In some cases, state parts of multi-state metropolitan areas with relatively little business activity are not defined as a separate CFS Area. For example, the Cincinnati metro area spans three states: Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. The Ohio and the Kentucky parts are each defined as separate CFS Areas. The Indiana portion (which consists of three counties) was considered too small (in terms of business activity) to be a CFS Area in its own right and has been combined into the Remainder of Indiana CFS Area.
[2] See the Census Bureau’s website for a complete list of definitions used in the commodity flow survey: http://www.census.gov/econ/cfs/definitions.html#t.
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