The amount of goods transported across US borders in trade with Canada and Mexico set a new record in 2004, exceeding a previous high set in 2000, according to data from the Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
Trucks carried almost two-thirds of this freight measured by value - $453 billion in 2004. Rail carried 15 percent, followed by maritime with six percent, and air and pipeline with five percent each.
Freight transported by trucks represented the largest modal increase in value from 2003 to 2004 up $49 billion, followed by rail up $12 billion and maritime up $8 billion. Trade by pipeline with Canada grew 13 percent annually from 2000 to 2004, making it the fastest growing form of transportation during the four-year period.
Total trade by water with Canada and Mexico grew annually by a combined nine percent during that time while trade by the largest mode by value, truck, grew just over one percent annually.
The United States traded $712 billion in goods with Canada and Mexico in 2004, topping the previous high of $654 billion in 2000 by $58 billion.
The 2004 trade level was a 13 percent increase from 2003 when $629 billion was traded. Trade in 2004 was up 18 percent from the low of $604 billion in 2002.
The value of freight shipments moving between the United States, Canada, and Mexico has risen 88 percent since 1995, growing at an average rate of seven percent per year.
Since 1995, the total value of US freight shipments with Mexico has grown 146 percent or almost 11 percent annually. Trade with Canada grew 64 percent or almost six percent annually.