All five transportation modes carried less US freight by value with North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners Canada and Mexico in March 2016 compared to March 2015. The total value of cross-border freight carried on all modes fell 5.8 percent from 2015 to $90.5 billion in current dollars, 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 declined 1.1 percent, the smallest decrease from 2015 to 2016 of any mode. The value of freight carried on other modes also declined: rail 7.7 percent; air 9.0 percent; vessel 31.9 percent; and pipeline 33.2 percent. A drop in the price of crude oil played a key role in the large declines in the dollar value of products shipped by vessel and pipeline.
Trucks carried 67.3 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 $48.0 billion of imports (65.3 percent) and $29.5 billion of the $42.5 billion of exports (69.4 percent).
Rail remained the second largest mode by value, moving 15.5 percent of all US-NAFTA freight, followed by vessel, 4.5 percent; air, 4.0 percent; and pipeline, 3.6 percent. The surface transportation modes of truck, rail and pipeline carried 86.4 percent of the total value of US-NAFTA freight flows.
From March 2015 to March 2016, the value of US-Canada freight flows fell 8.8 percent to $46.4 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 fell 2.6 percent to $44.1 billion as all modes of transportation except truck carried a lower value of US-Mexico freight than a year earlier.
In March 2016, the top commodity category transported between the US and Canada by all modes was vehicles and parts, of which $5.3 billion, or 55.4 percent, moved by truck and $4.0 billion, or 42.2 percent, moved by rail. The top commodity category transported between the US and Mexico by all modes in March 2016 was electrical machinery, of which $7.7 billion, or 91.3 percent, moved by truck.