According to a report released Thursday by the US Department of Transportation, three of the five transportation modes--the surface transportation modes of truck, rail and pipeline--carried more US trade with North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners Canada and Mexico by value in 2013 than in 2012 while the value of freight transported by air and vessel decreased.
Trade by pipeline also grew the most from year-to-year, 7.7 percent, partly due to the value of petroleum products, as the overall value on all modes rose 2.6 percent. Smaller increases took place on rail (4.6 percent) and truck (2.2 percent) while vessel trade fell for the second consecutive year (-2.4 percent) and air trade declined for the third straight year (-1.0 percent).
Most US-NAFTA trade in 2013 (82.4 percent) was carried on the surface modes of truck, rail and pipeline. Trucks carried 59.7 percent, followed by rail at 15.4 percent, air at 9.1 percent, pipeline at 7.3 percent and vessel at 3.8 percent.
From 2012 to 2013, total US-NAFTA trade rose 2.6 percent.? Freight on two modes--pipeline (7.7 percent) and rail (4.6)--grew faster than overall trade. Truck (2.2) grew slower while vessel (-2.4) and air (-1.0) declined.
Although truck carries more than half of US-NAFTA trade, 59.7 percent in 2013, its share of total trade has dropped by 4.0 percentage points from 2004, the first year of BTS data for all modes. Vessel's percentage share rose 2.6 points while pipeline rose 1.9 points.
