January 2019 North American Transborder Freight Numbers
Transborder freight between the U.S. and other North American countries (Canada and Mexico) in January 2019:
- Most-used mode: Truck moved $63.1 billion of freight, up 4.1% compared to January 2018
- Second mode: Rail moved $12.9 billion of freight, down 3.0% compared to January 2018
- By border:
- Compared to previous year:
- Busiest three truck border ports (45.8% of total transborder truck freight):
- Laredo, TX: $14.9 billion
- Detroit, MI: $8.4 billion
- El Paso, TX: $5.5 billion
- Top three truck commodities (50.4% of total transborder truck freight):
- Computers and parts: $12.7 billion
- Electrical machinery: $9.6 billion
- Motor vehicles and parts $9.4 billion
Figure 1: North American Freight by Mode: January 2019
| Mode | Value | 1 |
|---|---|---|
| Truck | 63.1 | 2 |
| Rail | 12.9 | 3 |
| Vessel | 6.8 | 4 |
| Pipeline | 4.4 | 5 |
| Air | 3.8 | 6 |
| 7 |
Bureau of Transportation Statistics, TransBorder Freight Data, https://www.bts.gov/transborder
Rail Freight: $12.9 billion (13.5% of all transborder freight)
- By border:
- Compared to previous year:
- Busiest three rail border ports (51.6% of total transborder rail freight):
- Laredo, TX: $3.0 billion
- Port Huron, MI: $2.0 billion
- Detroit, MI: $1.7 billion
- Top three rail commodities (58.6% of total transborder rail freight):
- Motor vehicles and parts: $5.5 billion
- Mineral fuels: $1.2 billion
- Plastics: $0.8 billion
Total Transborder Freight: $95.6 billion of transborder freight moved by all modes of transportation, down 1.1% from January 2018.
Freight by Mode:
Almost all (99.3%) 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.
Of freight by vessel between the U.S. and Mexico, $2.6 billion, or 54.6% 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.