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Freight Analysis Framework (FAF) Versions

Version History

Version 5.6 (April 26, 2024)

  • Release of final annual estimates for 2022. These estimates include:
    • Improved estimates of foreign trade flows by ground modes across the California/Mexico border and by water through the FAF region named Rest of Minnesota for 2022 (future versions will include these improvements in the 2018-2021 annual estimates)
    • Updated foreign trade water totals from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
  • Freight flow estimates for 2023, which were based on projections, have been removed from our public-facing databases and will be replaced this summer with preliminary annual estimates.

Version 5.5.1 (July 28, 2023)

  • Release of preliminary annual estimates for 2022.
    • The “preliminary” annual estimates are designed to provide projected FAF estimates for recent years in a more timely manner, before all the complete data sources are available for the final annual data.
    • Note that alternative data sources are used for estimating the preliminary estimates, where the input data sources for the final annual data are not available.
    • Moving forward, the preliminary annual estimates will be released in Spring of the following year and the final annual estimates approximately 14 months after the year end.
  • Updates of annual estimates for 2018-2020.

Version 5.5 (May 16, 2023)

  • Release of annual estimates for year 2021.
    • The foreign trade flows incorporate improvements to various imputation processes, including weight imputation, domestic mode imputation, and stateside geographic imputation for regions located on the Mexican and Canadian borders.
    • The description of Standard Classification of Transported Goods (SCTG) 19 has been changed from “Coal, n.e.c.” to “Natural gas and fossil products” to be more consistent with the commodities in this category.

Version 5.4.1 (December 7, 2022)

  • Updates to the tonnage of air cargo import for 2018-2020.

Version 5.4 (September 9, 2022)

  • Updates/release of regional annual data for the years 2018-2020.
  • Updates to the 2017-2050 foreign trade flows.

Version 5.3 (April 18, 2022)

  • Release of regional annual data for the years 2018-2019.
  • Release of ton-miles for all years.
  • Release of truck network database and flow assignments for 2017, 2022, and 2050.
  • Updates to the SCTG19 foreign trade flows for 2017.

Version 5.2 (November 22, 2021)

  • Release of regional forecast data for the years 2020 - 2050, including high-growth and low-growth scenarios.

Version 5.1 (August 16, 2021)

  • Release of historical data for previous base years (1997-2012) according to FAF5 standards.
  • Updates to the 2017 foreign trade flows.

Version 5.0 (February 25, 2021)

  • Regional (origin-destination-commodity-mode) data for 2017 released.

 

How FAF Versions Are Numbered

The current version of FAF provides estimates for tonnage, value, and ton-miles by origin-destination pair of FAF regions, commodity type, and mode for:
•    Base year (Y)
•    Annual estimates (Y + 1 through Y + 4)
•    Forecast year estimates (Y + 5, Y + 6, Y + 7 and Y + 8 through Y + 28 in 5-year increments)
•    Historical trend estimates (1997 through Y – 5; State-level only)

FAF versions are denoted using a, b and c as in FAFa.b.c. Version ID is determined as follows. A new version of FAF is initiated every five years in year Y, in years ending 2 and 7. The first digit, a, in the version ID corresponds to this. For example, the first version of FAF was developed for commodity flows in year 1997 and FAF1 refers to this release, while FAF5 refers to the 2017-based version. 
•    Base year 1997: FAF1
•    Base year 2002: FAF2
•    Base year 2007: FAF3
•    Base year 2012: FAF4
•    Base year 2017: FAF5

The second digit, b, of the FAF version ID corresponds to major, planned release dates within the five year cycle. At this time, the following notation is used with b denoting what has been added in the release:
•    1 (e.g., FAF 5.1): annual estimates for Y+1 and an updated Data Tabulation Tool (DTT)
•    2: annual estimates for Y+2, an updated DTT, and forecast year estimates
•    3: truck flow network assignments for Y and Y+28, ton-mile estimates for all years, and an updated DTT
•    4: annual estimates for Y+3 and an updated DTT
•    5: annual estimates for Y+4 and an updated DTT

The version identifier c is used for other updates in between FAFa.b releases. The a.b.c versions cover preliminary annual estimates as well as adjustments such as data improvements or corrections. “Major” releases are FAFa.b releases; all other releases are “minor”.