NAFTA Freight Flows Down Again in July

Monthly freight flows between the U.S. and its NAFTA partners fell 1.8 percent in July to $101.1 billion, according to statistics released Sept. 25 by the Department of Transportation. However, these data show that the value of total U.S. trade with Canada and Mexico rose 8.5 percent from July 2013, including increases of 8.5 percent for truck, 10.0 percent for rail, 10.8 percent for pipeline, 5.6 percent for vessel and 1.2 percent for air.

U.S.-Canada trade totaled $55.2 billion in July, down 4.7 percent from June but up 10.5 percent from the previous year. The value of freight carried increased year-on-year for all modes, including 8.0 percent for truck (including 11.9 percent for imports), 8.5 percent for rail (including 13.9 percent for exports), 10.7 percent for pipeline (despite a 7.2 percent drop in exports), 30.9 percent for vessel (including 100.2 percent for exports) and 2.0 percent for air...

This has been excerpted from the 2 October 2014 Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg Trade Report (subscription may be required).