Trucks carried more US freight by value with North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners Canada and Mexico in April 2016 compared to April 2015 but declines in all other freight modes led to a 3.2 percent decrease to $90.4 billion in the total current dollar value of cross-border freight, according to the TransBorder Freight Data released today by the US Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS).
The value of commodities moving by truck increased 0.8 percent as the value of incoming freight from Mexico (up 6.5 percent) and Canada (up 3.0 percent) exceeded the 3.6 percent decrease in shipments from the US The value of freight carried on other modes declined: rail 3.4 percent; air 10.4 percent; vessel 26.4 percent; and pipeline 30.5 percent.
Trucks carried 66.8 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 $31.4 billion of the $47.6 billion of imports (65.9 percent) and $29.0 billion of the $42.8 billion of exports (67.8 percent).
Rail remained the second largest mode by value, moving 15.6 percent of all US-NAFTA freight, followed by vessel, 5.0 percent; air, 3.8 percent; and pipeline, 3.7 percent. The surface transportation modes of truck, rail and pipeline carried 86.0 percent of the total value of US-NAFTA freight flows.
From April 2015 to April 2016, the value of US-Canada freight flows fell 6.0 percent to $45.9 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 fell 0.1 percent to $44.5 billion as all modes of transportation except truck carried a lower value of US-Mexico freight than a year earlier.