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 BTS 20-08
Contact:  Dave Smallen, Tel.:  (202) 366-5568
Wednesday, April 30, 2008

BTS Releases North American Surface Trade Numbers for February 2008:
February 2008 Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Rose 16.3 Percent from February 2007
 (State Rankings in Tables 5 and 7)
 

            Trade using surface transportation between the United States and its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners, Canada and Mexico, was 16.3 percent higher in February 2008 than in February 2007, reaching $69.4 billion, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) of the U.S. Department of Transportation (Table 1).  

The value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Canada and Mexico rose 6.5 percent in February from January (Table 2).  Month-to-month changes can be affected by seasonal variations and other factors.   

            Surface transportation consists largely of freight movements by truck, rail and pipeline.  About 90 percent of U.S. trade by value with Canada and Mexico moves on land. 

            The value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Canada and Mexico in February was up 58.3 percent compared to February 2003, and up 89.5 percent compared to February 1998, a period of 10 years (Table 3).  Imports in February were up 104.8 percent compared to February 1998, while exports were up 72.5 percent.   

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Canada 

 U.S.–Canada surface transportation trade totaled $45.0 billion in February, up 18.1 percent compared to February 2007 (Table 4).  The value of imports carried by truck was 7.1 percent higher in February 2008 than February 2007, while the value of exports carried by truck was 10.2 percent higher. 

            Michigan led all states in surface trade with Canada in February with $6.5 billion (Table 5).  

 

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Mexico 

U.S.–Mexico surface transportation trade totaled $24.4 billion in February, up 13.3 percent compared to February 2007 (Table 6).  The value of imports carried by truck was 10.0 percent higher in February 2008 than February 2007 while the value of exports carried by truck was 12.5 percent higher.    

Texas led all states in surface trade with Mexico in February with $7.6 billion (Table 7).    

The TransBorder Freight Data are a unique subset of official U.S. foreign trade statistics released by the U.S. Census Bureau.  New data are tabulated monthly and historical data are not adjusted for inflation.  February TransBorder numbers include data received by BTS as of April 10.   

The news release and summary tables can be found at www.bts.gov.  Additional information on TransBorder Freight Data as well as data from previous months is available on the BTS website at http://www.bts.gov/transborder/.  BTS will release March TransBorder numbers on May 29.

 

Table 1. Value of Monthly U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Canada and Mexico

(millions of dollars)

Month

2006

2007

2008

Percent Change      2006-2007

Percent Change      2007-2008

January

61,189

60,649

65,160

-0.9

7.4

February

59,804

59,667

69,406

-0.2

16.3

March

68,213

69,768

 

2.3

 

April

61,742

65,015

 

5.3

 

May

65,994

69,423

 

5.2

 

June

66,898

69,526

 

3.9

 

July

55,939

61,823

 

10.5

 

August

66,354

69,158

 

4.2

 

September

63,295

66,771

 

5.5

 

October

66,846

74,249

 

11.1

 

November

64,805

70,352

 

8.6

 

December

59,049

60,902

 

3.1

 

2-month total

120,993

120,316

134,566

-0.6

11.8

Annual

 760,127

797,303

 

4.9

 

 

               Source: BTS TransBorder Freight Data, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

Note: Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding.  Percent changes based on numbers prior to      rounding.

 


 

Table 2. U.S. Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico by Mode of Transportation

(millions of dollars)

Mode

 

February

2007

January

2008

February

2008

Percent Change     Jan. 2008 – Feb.  2008

Percent Change February

2007-2008

All Surface Modes

Imports

33,978

 

36,648

 

39,533

 

7.9

 

16.3

 

Exports

25,689

 

28,512

 

29,874

 

4.8

 

16.3

 

Total

59,667

 

65,160

 

69,406

 

6.5

 

16.3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Truck

Imports

22,141

 

22,495

 

24,013

 

6.7

 

8.5

 

Exports

20,290

 

21,887

 

22,522

 

2.9

 

11.0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rail

Imports

6,696

 

6,630

 

7,524

 

13.5

 

12.4

 

Exports

3,090

 

3,827

 

4,257

 

11.2

 

37.8

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pipeline

Imports

3,968

 

6,006

 

6,738

 

12.2

 

69.8

 

Exports

285

 

418

 

354

 

-15.4

 

24.2

 

Source: BTS TransBorder Freight Data, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

Note: Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding.   Percent changes based on numbers prior to rounding.  The value of trade for all surface modes is not equal to the sum of truck, rail and pipeline modes, it also includes shipments made by mail, foreign trade zones, other and unknown modes of transportation.  For additional detail refer to the “Data Fields” Section of the TransBorder web page: http://www.bts.gov/transborder/TBDR_DataFields.html.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 3. February 2008 Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Compared with February of Prior Years

 

                              Percent Change                            

Compared to February in…

Imports

Exports

Total Surface Trade

2007

16.3

 

16.3

 

16.3

 

2006

14.2

 

18.5

 

16.1

 

2005

28.2

 

31.3

 

29.5

 

2004

42.0

 

47.0

 

44.1

 

2003

55.5

 

62.3

 

58.3

 

2002

64.8

 

68.6

 

66.4

 

2001

56.0

 

53.4

 

54.8

 

2000

55.9

 

45.4

 

51.2

 

1999

84.6

 

74.2

 

80.0

 

1998

104.8

 

72.5

 

89.5

 

Source: BTS TransBorder Freight Data, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

 

 

 

Table 4. U.S. Surface Trade with Canada by Mode of Transportation

(millions of dollars)

Mode

 

February

2007

January

2008

February

2008

Percent Change     Jan. 2008 – Feb.  2008

Percent Change February

2007-2008

 

All Surface Modes

Imports

21,275

 

23,752

 

25,600

 

7.8

 

20.3

 

Exports

16.841

 

18,290

 

19,398

 

6.1

 

15.2

 

Total

38,116

 

42,043

 

44,998

 

7.0

 

18.1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Truck

Imports

11,709

 

11,584

 

12,536

 

8.2

 

7.1

 

Exports

13,281

 

13,922

 

14,636

 

5.1

 

10.2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rail

Imports

4,692

 

4,947

 

5,364

 

8.4

 

14.3

 

Exports

1,657

 

2,069

 

2,438

 

17.8

 

47.1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pipeline

Imports

3,960

 

5,984

 

6,724

 

12.4

 

69.8

 

Exports

254

 

353

 

273

 

-22.8

 

7.5

 

Source: BTS TransBorder Freight Data, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

 

Note: Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding.  Percent changes based on numbers prior to rounding.  The value of trade for all surface modes is not equal to the sum of truck, rail and pipeline modes, it also includes shipments made by mail, foreign trade zones, other and unknown modes of transportation.  For additional detail refer to the “Data Fields” Section of the TransBorder web page: http://www.bts.gov/transborder/TBDR_DataFields.html.

 

Table 5. Top 10 States Trading with Canada by Surface Modes of Transportation

Ranked by February 2008 Surface Trade Value

(millions of dollars)

Rank

State

February 2008

1

Michigan

6,469

 

2

Illinois

4,086

 

3

New York

3,290

 

4

Ohio

2,743

 

5

California

2,522

 

6

Washington

2,256

 

7

Texas

2,138

 

8

Pennsylvania

1,669

 

9

Minnesota

1,477

 

10

Indiana

1,395

 

Source: BTS TransBorder Freight Data, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

 

 

                       

 

 


 

 

Table 6. U.S. Surface Trade with Mexico by Mode of Transportation

(millions of dollars)

Mode

 

February

2007

January

2008

February

2008

Percent Change     Jan. 2008 – Feb.  2008

Percent Change February

2007-2008

All Surface Modes

Imports

12,703

 

12,895

 

13,933

 

8.0

 

9.7

 

Exports

8,848

 

10,222

 

10,476

 

2.5

 

18.4

 

Total

21,551

 

23,117

 

24,409

 

5.6

 

13.3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Truck

Imports

10,432

 

10,911

 

11,477

 

5.2

 

10.0

 

Exports

7,009

 

7,965

 

7,886

 

-1.0

 

12.5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rail

Imports

2,005

 

1,683

 

2,159

 

28.3

 

7.7

 

Exports

1,433

 

1,757

 

1,819

 

3.5

 

26.9

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pipeline

Imports

8

 

22

 

14

 

-36.2

 

87.4

 

Exports

31

 

65

 

81

 

24.8

 

158.8

 

Source: BTS TransBorder Freight Data, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

Note: Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding.  Percent changes based on numbers prior to rounding.  The value of trade for all surface modes is not equal to the sum of truck, rail and pipeline modes, it also includes shipments made by mail, foreign trade zones, other and unknown modes of transportation.  For additional detail refer to the “Data Fields” Section of the TransBorder web page: http://www.bts.gov/transborder/TBDR_DataFields.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 7. Top 10 States Trading with Mexico by Surface Modes of Transportation

Ranked by February 2008 Surface Trade Value

(millions of dollars)

Rank

State

February 2008

1

Texas

7,632

 

2

California

3,899

 

3

Michigan

2,661

 

4

Arizona

983

 

5

Illinois

831

 

6

Ohio

653

 

7

Tennessee

494

 

8

North Carolina

490

 

9

Georgia

434

 

10

Indiana

400

 

Source: BTS TransBorder Freight Data, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/


 

 

-end-

 


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