According to a report today from the US Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), four out of five major transportation modes – truck, pipeline, vessel and air – carried less US freight and with North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners Canada and Mexico by value in 2016 than in 2015. Rail is the only major mode to carry more freight, increasing by 0.2 percent. The total value of cross-border freight carried on all modes fell 3.4 percent from 2015 to $1.069 trillion in current dollars.
The modal share of commodities moving by truck increased by 1.1 percentage points, rail increased by 0.5 percentage points, and air was unchanged from 2015 to 2016. The modal share of freight on other modes declined: pipeline by 0.5 percentage points and vessel by 1.1 percentage points.
A large drop in the year-over-year price of crude oil in early 2016 played a key role in the annual declines in the dollar value of goods shipped by vessel (down 20.0 percent) and pipeline (down 12.9 percent). By the end of 2016, the year-over-year price of crude oil was increasing.
From 2015 to 2016, the value of US-Canada freight flows fell 5.4 percent to $544.0 billion. Trucks carried 60.1 percent of the value of the freight to and from Canada, followed with rail by 16.2 percent; pipeline by 8.4 percent, vessel by 3.3 percent; and air by 4.8 percent. The surface transportation modes of truck, rail and pipeline carried 84.8 percent of the value of total US-Canada freight flows.
The top commodity category transported between the US and Canada in 2016 was vehicles and parts at $106.1 billion with $59.8 billion or 56.4 percent moving by truck.
From 2015 to 2016, the value of US-Mexico freight fell 1.1 percent to $525.1 billion. Trucks carried 71.0 percent of the value of the freight to and from Mexico, followed with rail by 14.7 percent; vessel by 7.7 percent; air by 3.0 percent; and pipeline by 0.7 percent. The surface transportation modes of truck, rail and pipeline carried 86.4 percent of the value of total US-Mexico freight flows.
The top commodity transported between the US and Mexico in 2016 was electrical machinery at $102.6 billion, with $94.0 billion or 91.6 percent moved by truck. The next highest commodity category transported by a single mode in US-Mexico freight was vehicles and parts with $43.7 billion in freight moved by rail.