BTS releases June North American freight numbers

BTS releases June North American freight numbers

The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) of the U.S. Department of Transportation today released June North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) freight numbers showing that trucks carried 60.7 percent of the $93.5 billion of freight moved in June 2013 between the United States and its NAFTA partners, Canada and Mexico. Trucks were followed by rail at 15.8 percent, vessels at 8.2 percent, pipelines at 6.5 percent and air at 3.9 percent.

BTS, a part of the Department’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration, reported that the surface transportation modes of truck, rail and pipeline carried 83.0 percent of the total NAFTA freight flows, $77.6 billion of the total of $93.5 billion carried by all modes, including air and vessel. The value of freight carried by the surface modes in June 2013 declined 1.0 percent from June 2012, compared to the 0.8 percent decrease for all modes. Freight value on all modes rose 56.7 percent from June 2009.

For freight flows with Canada, trucks carried 56.0 percent of the $52.7 billion of the freight, followed by rail at 16.8 percent, pipelines at 10.8 percent, vessel at 5.5 percent and air at 4.5 percent. The surface transportation modes of truck, rail and pipeline carried 83.7 percent of the total U.S.-Canada freight flows.

For freight flows with Mexico in June, trucks carried 66.8 percent of the $40.8 billion of the freight, followed by rail at 14.5 percent, vessel at 11.7 percent, air at 3.2 percent and pipeline at 0.9 percent. The surface transportation modes of truck, rail and pipeline carried 82.1 percent of the total U.S.-Mexico freight flows.

Beginning with January 2013, BTS monthly TransBorder press releases contain data for all modes of transportation. Press releases and the BTS website now define surface transportation modes as truck, rail and pipeline. Data on surface modes can be found in Figure 3 and in Tables 2, 3, 4 and 7. See North American TransBorder Freight Data on the BTS website for additional data for surface modes since 1995 and all modes since 2004.

Data in this press release are not adjusted for inflation, except for the monthly totals illustrated in Figure 2 for comparison.

See BTS Transborder Data Release for summary tables, state rankings and additional data. See North American Transborder Freight Data  on the BTS website for additional data for surface modes since 1995 and all modes since 2004.