2019 North American transborder freight numbers

Transborder freight between the U.S. and other North American countries (Canada and Mexico) in 2019:

    •    Total Transborder Freight: $1.2 trillion of transborder freight moved by all modes of transportation, down 0.2% from 2018
    •    Most-used mode: Truck moved $772 billion of freight, virtually unchanged compared to 2018
    •    Second most-used mode: Rail moved $179 billion of freight, down 0.2% compared to 2018

Truck Freight: $772 billion (63.0% of all transborder freight)
    •    By border:
U.S.-Canada: $343 billion (56.0% of all northern border freight)
U.S.-Mexico: $429 billion (69.8% of all southern border freight)
    •    Compared to previous year:
U.S.-Canada down 1.5%
U.S.-Mexico up 1.2%
    •    Busiest three truck border ports (45.8% of total transborder truck freight):
    ◦    Laredo, TX:     $182 billion
    ◦    Detroit, MI:     $106 billion
    ◦    El Paso, TX:      $65 billion
    •    Top three truck commodities (51.1% of total transborder truck freight):
    ◦    Computers and parts:       $156 billion
    ◦    Electrical machinery:         $121 billion
    ◦    Motor vehicles and parts:   $117 billion

Rail Freight: $179 billion (14.6% of all transborder freight)
    •    By border:
U.S.-Canada:   $96 billion (15.7% of all northern border freight)
U.S.-Mexico:   $82 billion (13.4% of all southern border freight)
    •    Compared to previous year:
U.S.-Canada down 4.1%
U.S.-Mexico up 5.0%
    •    Busiest three rail border ports (52.9% of total transborder rail freight):
    ◦    Laredo, TX:             $44 billion
    ◦    Detroit, MI:             $26 billion
    ◦    Port Huron, MI:       $24 billion
 
    •    Top three rail commodities (62.8% of total transborder rail freight):
    ◦    Motor vehicles and parts:   $89 billion
    ◦    Mineral fuels:                     $14 billion
    ◦    Plastics:                            $9 billion
Freight by Mode:
U.S.-Canada (both directions)
(Dollars in Billions)
Truck:               $343
Rail:                   $96
Pipeline:             $67              
Air:                    $33
Vessel:               $31  
Almost all (99.6%) 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
U.S.-Mexico (both directions)
(Dollars in Billions)
Truck:              $429
Rail:                   $82
Vessel:               $65  
Air:                    $16
Pipeline:               $5             
Of freight by vessel between the U.S. and Mexico, $35 billion, or 53.5% 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.