Trucks carried 60 percent of the $95.6 billion of freight moved in March 2013 between the United States and its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners, Canada and Mexico, followed by rail at 16.5 percent, vessels at 8.1 percent, pipelines at 7 percent and air at 3.7 percent, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) of the US Department of Transportation. The surface transportation modes of truck, rail and pipeline carried 83.5 percent of the total NAFTA freight flows. The value of goods moving between the US and its NAFTA partners fell 4 percent from March 2012. Freight flows on all modes of transportation between the US and its NAFTA partners increased 8 percent in March 2013 from February 2013.
Freight moving across the border by truck increased by 9.7 percent, while freight moving by rail increased by 17 percent from one month prior. Month-to-month changes can be affected by seasonal factors such as the number of days in each month.
BTS reported that in March, for freight flows with Canada, trucks carried 55.1 percent of the $54.3 billion, followed by rail at 17.9 percent, pipelines at 11.6 percent, vessels at 4.6 percent and air at 4.4 percent. The surface transportation modes of truck, rail and pipeline carried 84.6 percent of the total US-Canada freight flows.
For freight flows with Mexico in March, trucks carried 66.5 percent of the $41.2 billion, followed by rail at 14.8 percent, vessel at 12.7 percent, air at 2.7 percent and pipelines at 0.8 percent. The surface transportation modes of truck, rail and pipeline carried 82.0 percent of the total US-Mexico freight flows.