NAFTA trade grows in 2013 as trucking moved $679 billion in trade freight

Chart from the DOT’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics

Trucking moved $679 billion in goods between the U.S. and its North American Free Trade Agreement partners Canada and Mexico in 2013, but its overall share of NAFTA trade fell slightly from 2012 — two-tenths of a percent — to 59.7 percent, according to numbers released this week by the Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

A total of $1.138 trillion in goods were transported between the U.S. and Canada and Mexico, a 2.6 percent increase from 2012, with surface trade (truck, rail, pipeline) moving the vast majority, 82.4 percent.

The amount of goods trucking moved did grow from 2012, however, 2.2 percent, along with a 7.7 percent growth in pipeline trade and 4.6 percent growth in rail. The other two modes of transport, air and vessel, each carried less than in 2012 and accounted for the remaining 16.6 percent of trade movement.

NAFTA trade was up in 2013 54.9 percent from 2009. Trucking in 2013 moved 49.4 percent more NAFTA goods than in 2009, BTS says.

Since 2004 — when BTS began tracking NAFTA trade — trade via truck has grown 50 percent, but its overall share has dropped 4 percent.

Chart from the DOT’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics

Trade with Canada in 2013 totaled $632.32 billion, a 2.6 percent increase. Trucks moved 54.4 percent of that, while rail and pipeline moved 16.7 percent and 12.6 percent, respectively. Trucking’s share of trade with Canada, however, did fall 1.1 percent, but the amount of freight it moved grew seven-tenths of a percent.

Michigan led all states with trade with Canada with $74.6 billion, followed by Illinois’s $60 billion.

Trade with Mexico in 2013 totaled $506.6 billion, also a 2.6 percent increase. Trucks moved 66.2 percent of goods between the two countries, followed by rail’s 13.8 percent and vessel’s 13.3 percent. The amount of goods moved via truck grew 3.8 percent, and its share of trade with Mexico grew 1.5 percent.

Texas led all states in trade with Mexico with $195. 7 billion, followed by California’s $60.2 billion.