U.S.-NAFTA freight value drops 6.8 percent annually in April, reports BTS

The Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported this week that U.S. trade with its North America Free Trade Agreement partners Canada and Mexico in April fell 6.8 percent annually to $93.3 billion, following a 5.3 percent decline to $96.1 billion in March.

BTS said that of the modes it tracks––including truck, rail, air, vessel, and pipeline––all but air carried less U.S.-NAFTA freight in April on an annual basis. And it added that large decreases in NAFTA trade by pipeline and vessel were due to the reduced unit price of mineral fuel shipments, as has been the case in recent months.

On an annual basis in April, the value of commodities moving by air grew by 3.0 percent. The value of commodities shipped by all other modes declined. Truck freight and rail freight both decreased by 0.9 percent (Figure 1, Table 2). Vessel freight decreased by 22.8 percent and pipeline freight decreased by 44.9 percent mainly due to the lower unit price of mineral fuel shipments.

Trucks carried 64.2 percent of U.S.-NAFTA freight and are the most heavily utilized mode for moving goods to and from both U.S.-NAFTA partners. Trucks accounted for $29.8 billion of the $49.1 billion of imports (60.8 percent) and $30.1 billion of the $44.3 billion of exports (67.9 percent) (Table 2).

Rail remained the second largest mode, moving 15.6 percent of all U.S.-NAFTA freight, followed by vessel, 6.5 percent; pipeline, 5.1 percent; and air, 4.1 percent.

U.S.-Canada freight totaled $48.8 billion in April 2015, down 12.5 percent from April 2014, and U.S.-Mexico freight totaled $44.5 billion in April 2015, up 0.3 percent from April 2014.