All transportation modes except rail carried less cross-border freight by value in July 2016 compared to July 2015 resulting in a 10 percent decrease to $83.7 billion in the total current dollar value of freight moved, according to the TransBorder Freight Data released today by the US Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS).
The $83.7 billion in July 2016 cross-border freight is the lowest monthly amount since February 2011, which had $76.7 billion in cross-border freight. July was the 19th consecutive month that the total value of US freight with North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners Canada and Mexico declined from the same month of the previous year.
The value of commodities moving by rail increased 0.9 percent while the value of freight carried on other modes decreased: air by 6.4 percent; truck by 8.8 percent; vessel by 25.1 percent; and pipeline by 26.9 percent. The increase in rail is due in part to the a 14 percent year-over-year increase in the value of vehicles and parts traded with Mexico.
Trucks carried 64.7 percent of US-NAFTA freight and continued to be the most heavily utilized mode for moving goods to and from both US-NAFTA partners. Trucks accounted for $27.8 billion of the $44.6 billion of imports (62.4 percent) and $26.4 billion of the $39.1 billion of exports (67.4 percent).
Rail remained the second largest mode by value, moving 15.4 percent of all US-NAFTA freight, followed by vessel, 6.1 percent; pipeline, 4.9 percent; and air, 4.0 percent. The surface transportation modes of truck, rail and pipeline carried 85.0 percent of the total value of US-NAFTA freight flows.
From July 2015 to July 2016, the value of US-Canada freight flows fell 10.7 percent to $42.4 billion as all modes of transportation carried a lower value of US-Canada freight than a year earlier. In the same period, the value of US-Mexico freight declined 9.2 percent to $41.3 billion as all modes of transportation except rail carried a lower value of US-Mexico freight than a year earlier.
In July 2016, the top commodity category transported between the US and Canada by all modes was vehicles and parts, of which $4.1 billion, or 57.2 percent, moved by truck and $2.9 billion, or 40.2 percent, moved by rail. The top commodity category transported between the US and Mexico by all modes in July 2016 was electrical machinery, of which $7.4 billion, or 91.9 percent, moved by truck.