Legal Definitions - ton mile

A ton mile is a standard unit of measurement used within the transportation industry to quantify the total amount of freight movement. It represents the effort involved in transporting one ton of cargo over a distance of one mile. This metric is crucial for businesses, logistics planners, and government agencies to assess the volume, efficiency, and cost of moving goods across various modes of transport.

• Example 1: Trucking a Local Shipment
  A trucking company uses a semi-trailer to deliver 20 tons of construction materials from a quarry to a building site located 75 miles away. To determine the transportation work for this specific delivery, you would multiply the weight of the cargo (20 tons) by the distance traveled (75 miles). This calculation results in 1,500 ton miles, which represents the total freight movement for that particular shipment.

• Example 2: Long-Haul Rail Freight
  A freight train carries 3,000 tons of automotive parts from a manufacturing plant in the Midwest to an assembly factory on the West Coast, a journey spanning approximately 2,000 miles. The total ton miles for this extensive trip would be calculated by multiplying the 3,000 tons of cargo by the 2,000-mile distance, resulting in 6,000,000 ton miles. This figure illustrates the massive capacity and long-distance efficiency of rail transportation for bulk goods.