April 2018 North American Freight Numbers
Date: Tuesday, June 26, 2018
Freight between the U.S. and other North American countries (Canada and Mexico) in April 2018:
- Most-used mode: Truck moved $65.7 billion of freight, up 15.3 percent compared to April 2017
- Second mode: Rail moved $14.7 billion of freight, down 1.5 percent compared to April 2017
Truck Freight
- Total: $65.7 billion (64.0 percent)
- By border:
Compared to previous year:
- Top three states for truck freight moved through their border ports: (74.7 percent of total truck freight):
- Texas: $26.6 billion
- Michigan: $14.4 billion
- New York: $8.0 billion
- Busiest three truck border ports (46.8 percent of total truck freight):
- Laredo, TX: $15.6 billion
- Detroit, MI: $9.5 billion
- El Paso, TX: $5.6 billion
- Top three truck commodities (50.7 percent of total truck freight):
- Computers and parts: $12.9 billion
- Motor vehicles and parts: $10.2 billion
- Electrical machinery: $10.2 billion
Figure 1: North American Freight by Mode: April 2018
| Mode | Value |
|---|---|
| Truck | 65.7 |
| Rail | 14.7 |
| Vessel | 7.8 |
| Pipeline | 5.8 |
| Air | 3.8 |
Bureau of Transportation Statistics, TransBorder Freight Data, https://www.bts.gov/transborder
Rail Freight
- Total: $14.7 billion (14.3 percent)
- By border:
- Compared to previous year:
- Top three states for rail freight flowing through their border ports (76.4 percent of total rail freight):
- Texas: $5.4 billion
- Michigan: $4.4 billion
- New York: $1.4 billion
- Busiest three rail border ports (52.4 percent of total rail freight):
- Laredo, TX: $3.2 billion
- Detroit, MI: $2.3 billion
- Port Huron, MI: $2.0 billion
- Top three rail commodities (58.2 percent of total rail freight):
- Motor vehicles and parts: $6.7 billion
- Plastics: $1.0 billion
- Computers and parts: $ .9 billion
Total: $102.7 billion of freight by all modes of transportation, up 12.8 percent from April 2017.
Freight by Mode:
U.S.-Canada (both directions)
Almost all (99.2 percent) of pipeline freight between the U.S. and Canada were mineral fuels, primarily oil and gas. Most of these freight flows were on pipelines linking Canada and the American Midwest.
U.S.-Mexico (both directions)
Of freight by vessel, $2.9 billion, or 55.8 percent were mineral fuels, primarily oil and gas shipments between Gulf of Mexico ports in the U.S. and Mexico – with over half of those shipments going through Texas ports.
Reporting Notes
Data in this release are not seasonally adjusted and are not adjusted for inflation. For previous statistical releases and summary tables, see TransBorder Releases. See TransBorder Freight Data for data from previous months, and for additional state, port, and commodity data. BTS has scheduled the release of May TransBorder numbers for July 25.