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Cross-Border Freight Posts 7.2% Annual Decline

All five major transportation modes, including trucking, carried less freight between the U.S. and its neighbors of Canada and Mexico last year than in 2014, but big-rigs continue to dominate such cargo movements, according to new U.S. Transportation Department figures.

Evan Lockridge
Evan LockridgeFormer Business Contributing Editor
March 18, 2016
Cross-Border Freight Posts 7.2% Annual Decline

U.S.-NAFTA Merchandise trade by mode: 2011-2015. Graphic: U.S. DOT

3 min to read


U.S.-NAFTA Merchandise trade by mode: 2011-2015. Graphic: U.S. DOT

All five major transportation modes, including trucking, carried less freight between the U.S. and its neighbors of Canada and Mexico last year than in 2014, but big-rigs continue to dominate such cargo movements, according to new U.S. Transportation Department figures.

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The 7.2% decline in value to $1.1 trillion also includes freight moved by rail, pipeline, vessel and air.

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Of all the modes, trucking saw the smallest year-over-year drop in the value of commodities moved, down 0.4%. Air fell 1.8%, rail declined 7.1%, vessel tumbled 29.7% and pipeline plummeted 39.4%.

The decline in the value cross-border freight from 2014 to 2015 was almost entirely due to drops in crude oil and petroleum prices. The value of petroleum-related commodity shipments dropped almost 40% year-over-year, while the value of other freight dropped just 0.9%.

In 2015, petroleum-related commodities comprised 10.8% of the total value of U.S. North American freight, down from 16.6% in 2014.

North American Freight by Mode in 2015. Graphic: U.S. DOT

Trucks carried 64.3% of so-called U.S.-NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) freight last year, a 4.4 percentage point increase from 2014, and continued to be the most heavily used mode for moving goods to and from both U.S.-NAFTA partners. Trucks accounted for $359.8 billion of the $589.9 billion of imports, or 61%, and for $351.9 billion of the $516.4 billion of exports, or 68.2%.

Rail remained the second largest mode, moving 14.9% of all U.S.-NAFTA freight. During the last decade, rail’s percentage share rose 0.2 points, far behind trucking increase of 2.2 percentage points.

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Freight With Canada Posts Double Digit Drop

From 2014 to 2015, the value of U.S.-Canada freight flows fell 12.6% to $575.2 billion.

Trucks carried 58.3% of the value of the freight to and from Canada, followed by rail at 15.7%. The truck freight value was a 0.8 percentage point decrease from 2005 but an increase of 4.5 percentage points from the year before.

Michigan led all states in freight with Canada in 2015 with $69.1 billion.

The top commodity category transported between the U.S. and Canada in 2015 was vehicles and vehicle parts (other than railway vehicles and parts), valued at $103 billion with 60% moved by truck.

Mexican Freight Down Just Slightly

The value of U.S.-Mexico freight fell 0.6% to $531.1 billion from 2014 to 2015, as trucks carried 70.9% of the value of the freight to and from Mexico, followed by rail at 14.1%. The truck freight value was a 3.4 percentage point increase from 2014 and was up 3.5 percentage points from 2005.

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Texas led all states in freight with Mexico in 2015 with $178 billion.

The top commodity transported between the U.S. and Mexico in 2015 was electrical machinery at $103.8 billion, an increase of 7.5% from 2014, with $95.4 billion or 91.9% moved by trucks.

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