The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) released a new benchmark version of its Freight Analysis Framework (FAF) commodity flow dataset. FAF 6 provides estimates of freight tonnage and value by origin-destination pair of FAF regions, commodity type, and mode for year 2022. BTS produces FAF using data from BTS’ Commodity Flow Survey (CFS) in addition to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Energy Information Administration, U.S. Census foreign trade data, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers waterborne cargo data, and other sources. 

Changes since FAF 5 include the following:

• FAF 6 integrates survey data from the foundational 2022 CFS.
• The FAF 6 zone system is consistent with the 2022 CFS.
• Updated estimates for 2022 for commodities outside of the CFS scope are based on a new set of estimated origin-destination patterns. 
• Updated points of entry and exit for crude petroleum and natural gas flows. 

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The forthcoming methodology report will discuss the input data and updated methods in detail. 

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