The value of US-NAFTA freight totaled $86.7 billion in December 2015 as all modes of transportation – air, vessel, pipeline, rail, and trucks – carried a lower total value of freight than a year earlier, according to the TransBorder Freight Data released today by the US Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS).
Year-over-year, the value of US-NAFTA freight flows by all modes declined by 9.5 percent. In December 2015 compared to December 2014, the value of commodities moving by truck decreased by 3.1 percent, while the value of air freight decreased by 3.5 percent and rail by 9.3 percent.
Trucks carried 63.4 percent of US-NAFTA freight and continue to be the most heavily utilized mode for moving goods to and from both US-NAFTA partners. Trucks accounted for $28.0 billion of the $46.8 billion of imports (60.0 percent) and $26.9 billion of the $40.0 billion of exports (67.3 percent).
Rail remained the second largest mode by value, moving 15.1 percent of all US-NAFTA freight, followed by vessel, 6.4 percent; pipeline, 4.7 percent; and air, 4.3 percent. The surface transportation modes of truck, rail and pipeline carried 83.2 percent of the total US-NAFTA freight flows.
The value of US-Canada freight totaled $45.0 billion in December 2015, down 15.2 percent from December 2014, as all modes of transportation carried a lower value of US-Canada freight than a year earlier.
Trucks carried 57.3 percent of the $45.0 billion of freight to and from Canada, followed by rail, 15.9 percent; pipeline, 8.4 percent; air, 4.9 percent; and vessel, 4.5 percent. The surface transportation modes of truck, rail and pipeline carried 81.6 percent of the total US-Canada freight flows.
The value of US-Mexico freight totaled $41.7 billion in December 2015, down 2.4 percent from December 2014, as two out of the five transportation modes – air and truck – carried more US-Mexico freight value than in December 2014. Freight carried by truck increased by 1.3 percent, led by shipments of electrical machinery, which were up 7.4 percent.
Trucks carried 70.0 percent of the $41.7 billion of the value of freight transported to and from Mexico, followed by rail, 14.3 percent; vessel, 8.5 percent; air, 3.7 percent; and pipeline, 0.6 percent. The surface transportation modes of truck, rail and pipeline carried 84.8 percent of the total US-Mexico freight flows.