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BTS 32-08
Contact:  Dave Smallen, Tel.:  (202) 366-5568
Monday, June 30, 2008

                                                           

BTS Releases North American Surface Trade Numbers:
Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Reached a Monthly Record High in
April 2008
 (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 14.3 percent higher in April 2008 than in April 2007, reaching $74.3 billion, the highest monthly level ever recorded, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) of the U.S. Department of Transportation (Table 1).  

BTS, a part of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), reported that the value of North American surface trade in April topped the previous monthly high of $74.2 billion in October 2007 by 0.1 percent. 

The value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Canada and Mexico rose 5.0 percent in April from March (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 88 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 April was up 58.7 percent compared to April 2003, and up 91.8 percent compared to April 1998, a period of 10 years (Table 3).  Imports in April were up 106.0 percent compared to April 1998, while exports were up 75.8 percent.  

            Data for exports to Canada by pipeline in March 2008 remained unavailable at the time of this release. 

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Canada 

 U.S.–Canada surface transportation trade totaled $48.9 billion in April, up 15.4 percent compared to April 2007 (Table 4).  The value of imports carried by truck was about 1 percent higher in April 2008 than April 2007, while the value of exports carried by truck was 13.1 percent higher.

Michigan led all states in surface trade with Canada in April with $6.4 billion (Table 5).    

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Mexico 

U.S.–Mexico surface transportation trade totaled $25.5 billion in April, up 12.2 percent compared to April 2007 (Table 6).  The value of imports carried by truck was 11.8 percent higher in April 2008 than April 2007 while the value of exports carried by truck was 10.9 percent higher.           

Texas led all states in surface trade with Mexico in April with $8.0 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.  April TransBorder numbers include data received by BTS as of June 10.   

The news release and summary tables can be found at www.bts.gov.  More information on TransBorder Freight Data and data from previous months are posted on the BTS website at http://www.bts.gov/transborder/.  BTS will release May TransBorder numbers on July 31.

 

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

70,787

2.3

1.5

April

61,742

65,015

74,317

5.3

14.3

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

 

4-month total

250,947

255,098

279,670

1.7

9.6

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. Canada pipeline export data are currently not available for March 2008.

 


 

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

(millions of dollars)

Mode

 

April

2007

March

2008

April

2008

Percent Change     Mar. 2008 – Apr.  2008

Percent Change April

2007-2008

All Surface Modes

Imports

36,912

 

40,089

 

42,226

 

5.3

 

14.4

 

Exports

28,103

 

30,698

 

32,090

 

4.5

 

14.2

 

Total

65,015

 

70,787

 

74,317

 

5.0

 

14.3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Truck

Imports

23,492

 

23,835

 

24,859

 

4.3

 

5.8

 

Exports

21,790

 

23,353

 

24,482

 

4.8

 

12.4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rail

Imports

7,551

 

8,065

 

8,063

 

-0.0

 

6.8

 

Exports

3,775

 

4,281

 

4,447

 

3.9

 

17.8

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pipeline

Imports

4,418

 

6,657

 

7,655

 

15.0

 

73.3

 

Exports

410

 

NA

 

600

 

NA

 

46.4

 

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

Notes: 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.

Canada pipeline export data are currently not available for March 2008.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

                              Percent Change                            

Compared to April in…

Imports

Exports

Total Surface Trade

2007

14.4

 

14.2

 

14.3

 

2006

20.2

 

20.6

 

20.4

 

2005

27.2

 

27.9

 

27.5

 

2004

38.9

 

40.8

 

39.7

 

2003

59.1

 

58.0

 

58.7

 

2002

57.8

 

60.2

 

58.8

 

2001

58.4

 

59.4

 

58.8

 

2000

63.1

 

53.0

 

58.6

 

1999

89.0

 

74.1

 

82.3

 

1998

106.0

 

75.8

 

91.8

 

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

Canada pipeline export data are currently not available for March 2008.

 

 

 

 

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

(millions of dollars)

Mode

 

April

2007

March

2008

April

2008

Percent Change     Mar. 2008 – Apr.  2008

Percent Change April

2007-2008

 

All Surface Modes

Imports

23,776

 

26,465

 

27,636

 

4.4

 

16.2

 

Exports

18,546

 

20,750

 

21,222

 

2.3

 

14.4

 

Total

42,322

 

47,216

 

48,859

 

3.5

 

15.4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Truck

Imports

12,761

 

12,729

 

12,858

 

1.0

 

0.8

 

Exports

14,307

 

15,645

 

16,185

 

3.4

 

13.1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rail

Imports

5,436

 

5,854

 

5,791

 

-1.1

 

6.5

 

Exports

2,188

 

2,606

 

2,394

 

-8.2

 

9.4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pipeline

Imports

4,408

 

6,642

 

7,640

 

15.0

 

73.3

 

Exports

361

 

NA

 

529

 

NA

 

46.5

 

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.

Canada pipeline export data are currently not available for March 2008.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Ranked by April 2008 Surface Trade Value

(millions of dollars)

Rank

State

April 2008

1

Michigan

6,401

 

2

Illinois

4,630

 

3

New York

3,509

 

4

Ohio

3,065

 

5

California

2,740

 

6

Texas

2,291

 

7

Washington

2,107

 

8

Pennsylvania

1,858

 

9

Minnesota

1,834

 

10

Indiana

1,450

 

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

Canada pipeline export data are currently not available for March 2008.

 

 

                       

 

 

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

(millions of dollars)

Mode

 

April

2007

March

2008

April

2008

Percent Change     Mar. 2008 – Apr.  2008

Percent Change April

2007-2008

All Surface Modes

Imports

13,136

 

13,624

 

14,590

 

7.1

 

11.1

 

Exports

9,557

 

9,948

 

10,868

 

9.3

 

13.7

 

Total

22,693

 

23,571

 

25,458

 

8.0

 

12.2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Truck

Imports

10,730

 

11,106

 

12,001

 

8.1

 

11.8

 

Exports

7,482

 

7,707

 

8,298

 

7.7

 

10.9

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rail

Imports

2,115

 

2,211

 

2,272

 

2.8

 

7.4

 

Exports

1,587

 

1,675

 

2,054

 

22.6

 

29.4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pipeline

Imports

10

 

15

 

15

 

-1.5

 

52.1

 

Exports

49

 

85

 

71

 

-16.2

 

45.9

 

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.  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 April 2008 Surface Trade Value

(millions of dollars)

Rank

State

April 2008

1

Texas

8,047

 

2

California

4,142

 

3

Michigan

2,705

 

4

Arizona

1,001

 

5

Illinois

913

 

6

Ohio

684

 

7

Tennessee

504

 

8

North Carolina

482

 

9

Georgia

447

 

10

Pennsylvania

435

 

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


 

-end-

 


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