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BTS 50-05
Contact:  Dave Smallen, Tel.:  (202) 366-5568
Thursday, October 27, 2005

BTS Releases North American Surface Trade Numbers for August:
Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico
Rose 12.3 Percent from August 2004 to Record High in August 2005
(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 rose 12.3 percent in August 2005 from August 2004 to a total of $60.2 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 total North American surface transportation trade rose 21.1 percent in August from July (Table 2).  Month-to-month changes can be affected by seasonal variations and other factors.  Trucks carried 64 percent of imports and 80 percent of exports by value.  

            The previous monthly high was $59.4 billion in March 2005. 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.  

            Total North American surface transportation trade value in August was up 28.8 percent compared to August 2002, and up 89.8 percent compared to August 1995, a period of 10 years (Table 3).  Imports in August were up 103.6 percent compared to August 1995, while exports were up 74.0 percent.  

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Canada 

U.S. – Canada surface transportation trade totaled $39.4 billion in August, up 14.6 percent compared to August 2004 (Table 4).  Trucks carried 54 percent of imports and 80 percent of exports by value.  The value of imports carried by truck rose 9.2 percent in August 2005 from August 2004 while the value of exports rose 18.1 percent. 

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

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Mexico 

U.S. – Mexico surface transportation trade reached a new monthly high of $20.8 billion in August, up 8.2 percent compared to August 2004 (Table 6).  The previous monthly high for U.S.-Mexico trade was $20.4 billion in October 2004.  Trucks carried 84 percent of imports and 80 percent of exports by value.  The value of imports carried by truck rose 10.1 percent in August 2005 from August 2004 while the value of exports rose 5.7 percent.   

Texas led all states in surface trade with Mexico in August with $6.9 billion (Table 7).    

The Transborder Surface Freight Dataset is a special extract of the official U.S. foreign trade statistics.  The data are tabulated for BTS monthly by the U.S. Census Bureau’s Foreign Trade Division.  August transborder numbers include data received by BTS as of Oct. 14, 2005.  

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 September transborder numbers on Nov. 29. 

 

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

(millions of dollars)

Month

2004

2005

Percent Change      2004-2005

January

45,686

 

52,334

 

14.6

 

February

48,170

 

53,592

 

11.3

 

March

56,269

 

59,436

 

5.6

 

April

53,195

 

58,297

 

9.6

 

May

53,155

 

57,870

 

8.9

 

June

55,422

 

59,431

 

7.2

 

July

48,096

 

49,690

 

3.3

 

August

53,577

 

60,188

 

12.3

 

September

54,913

 

 

 

 

 

October

56,880

 

 

 

 

 

November

   56,134

 

 

 

 

 

December

52,065

 

 

 

 

 

Year-to-date

413,570

 

450,838

 

9.0

 

Annual

633,563

 

 

 

 

 

Source: BTS Transborder Surface Freight Dataset, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

 

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

(millions of dollars)

Mode

 

August

2004

July

2005

August

2005

Percent Change       July - August

Percent Change August 2004-2005

All Surface Modes

Imports

31,242

 

28,705

 

34,506

 

20.2

 

10.4

 

Exports

22,335

 

20,985

 

25,681

 

22.4

 

15.0

 

Total

53,577

 

49,690

 

60,188

 

21.1

 

12.3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Truck

Imports

20,309

 

18,476

 

22,255

 

20.5

 

9.6

 

Exports

18,098

 

16,637

 

20,514

 

23.3

 

13.3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rail

Imports

6,756

 

5,276

 

6,788

 

28.7

 

0.5

 

Exports

2,348

 

2,273

 

2,861

 

25.8

 

21.9

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pipeline

Imports

3,228

 

3,624

 

4,434

 

22.4

 

37.4

 

Exports

40

 

205

 

159

 

-22.7

 

297.2

 

Source: BTS Transborder Surface Freight Dataset, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

Note: The value of all surface modes is not equal to the sum of truck, rail and pipeline modes.  The value of trade for all surface modes includes shipments made by truck, rail, pipeline, mail, foreign trade zones, other and unknown modes of transportation.  For additional detail refer to the Transborder Surface Freight data "Sources and Reliability" statement: http://www.bts.gov/ntda/tbscd/srfin.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 3: August 2005 Surface Trade with Canada and Mexico Compared with August of Prior Years

 

                              Percent Change                            

Compared to August in…

Imports

Exports

Total Surface Trade

2004

10.4

 

15.0

 

12.3

 

2003

32.9

 

34.7

 

33.7

 

2002

29.0

 

28.5

 

28.8

 

2001

29.1

 

25.8

 

27.7

 

2000

22.4

 

16.1

 

19.6

 

1999

42.0

 

37.0

 

39.8

 

1998

75.4

 

59.4

 

68.2

 

1997

83.6

 

56.1

 

70.7

 

1996

82.4

 

62.7

 

73.5

 

1995

103.6

 

74.0

 

89.8

 

Source: BTS Transborder Surface Freight Dataset, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

 

 

 

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

(millions of dollars)

Mode

 

August

2004

July

2005

August

2005

Percent Change       July - August

Percent Change August 2004-2005

All Surface Modes

Imports

20,414

 

18,778

 

22,887

 

21.9

 

12.1

 

Exports

13,934

 

13,040

 

16,492

 

26.5

 

18.4

 

Total

34,348

 

31,817

 

39,379

 

23.8

 

14.6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Truck

Imports

11,424

 

10,013

 

12,472

 

24.6

 

9.2

 

Exports

11,129

 

10,264

 

13,148

 

28.1

 

18.1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rail

Imports

5,031

 

4,029

 

5,136

 

27.5

 

2.1

 

Exports

1,289

 

1,138

 

1,504

 

32.2

 

16.7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pipeline

Imports

3,228

 

3,624

 

4,434

 

22.4

 

37.4

 

Exports

33

 

154

 

116

 

-24.9

 

247.8

 

Source: BTS Transborder Surface Freight Dataset, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

 

Note: The value of all surface modes is not equal to the sum of truck, rail and pipeline modes.  The value of trade for all surface modes includes shipments made by truck, rail, pipeline, mail, foreign trade zones, other and unknown modes of transportation.  For additional detail refer to the Transborder Surface Freight data "Sources and Reliability" statement: http://www.bts.gov/ntda/tbscd/srfin.html

Table 5. Top 10 States Trading with Canada by Surface Modes of Transportation, Ranked by August 2005 Surface Trade Value

(millions of dollars)

Rank

State

August 2005

1

Michigan

6,444

 

2

Illinois

2,719

 

3

New York

2,616

 

4

Ohio

2,559

 

5

California

2,458

 

6

Texas

1,664

 

7

Washington

1,586

 

8

Pennsylvania

1,538

 

9

Indiana

1,284

 

10

Tennessee

1,180

 

Source: BTS Transborder Surface Freight Dataset, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

 

 

 

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

(millions of dollars)

Mode

 

August

2004

July

2005

August

2005

Percent Change       July - August

Percent Change August

2004-2005

All Surface Modes

Imports

10,828

 

9,927

 

11,620

 

17.0

 

7.3

 

Exports

8,400

 

7,945

 

9,189

 

15.7

 

9.4

 

Total

19,228

 

17,872

 

20,809

 

16.4

 

8.2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Truck

Imports

8,885

 

8,462

 

9,783

 

15.6

 

10.1

 

Exports

6,969

 

6,372

 

7,366

 

15.6

 

5.7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rail

Imports

1,726

 

1,247

 

1,652

 

32.5

 

-4.3

 

Exports

1,059

 

1,136

 

1,357

 

19.5

 

28.1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pipeline

Imports

0

 

0

 

0

 

NA

 

NA

 

Exports

7

 

51

 

43

 

-15.9

 

541.2

 

Source: BTS Transborder Surface Freight Dataset, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/

Note: The value of all surface modes is not equal to the sum of truck, rail and pipeline modes.  The value of trade for all surface modes includes shipments made by truck, rail, pipeline, mail, foreign trade zones, other and unknown modes of transportation.  For additional detail refer to the Transborder Surface Freight data "Sources and Reliability" statement: http://www.bts.gov/ntda/tbscd/srfin.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 7. Top 10 States Trading with Mexico by Surface Modes of Transportation, Ranked by August 2005  Surface Trade Value

(millions of dollars)

Rank

State

August 2005

1

Texas

6,872

 

2

California

3,572

 

3

Michigan

1,959

 

4

Illinois

746

 

5

Arizona

619

 

6

Ohio

514

 

7

Tennessee

482

 

8

Indiana

460

 

9

North Carolina

398

 

10

New York

377

 

Source: BTS Transborder Surface Freight Dataset, http://www.bts.gov/transborder/


 

 

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