The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) of the US Department of Transportation Wednesday released the April North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) freight numbers showing that trucks carried 60.6 percent of the $99 billion of freight moved in April 2013 between the United States and its NAFTA partners, Canada and Mexico. Trucks were followed by rail at 15.1 percent, vessels at 9.2 percent, pipelines at 6.8 percent and air at 3.8 percent. The surface transportation modes of truck, rail and pipeline carried 82.5 percent of the total NAFTA freight flows.
BTS reported that in April, for freight flows with Canada, trucks carried 55.2 percent of the $54.7 billion of freight, followed by rail at 17.2 percent, pipelines at 11.7 percent, vessels at 6 percent and air at 4.6 percent. The surface transportation modes of truck, rail and pipeline carried 84 percent of the total US-Canada freight flows.
For freight flows with Mexico in April, trucks carried 67.3 percent of the $44.2 billion of freight, followed by rail at 12.6 percent, vessel at 13.2 percent, air at 2.8 percent and pipelines at 0.8 percent. The surface transportation modes of truck, rail and pipeline carried 80.7 percent of the total US-Mexico freight flows.
Freight flows by all modes of transportation between the US and its NAFTA partners increased 3.6 percent in April 2013 from March 2013, measured in current dollars. Freight moving across the border by truck increased by 4.6 percent, while freight moving by rail decreased by 5.3 percent from one month prior. Month-to-month changes can be affected by seasonal factors such as the number of days in each month.
From April 2012 to April 2013, the value of freight carried by truck rose 8.6 percent while the value of freight carried by rail grew 7.3 percent.