Cross-border freight continued to show signs of improvement in November

Cross-border freight improved for a second consecutive month, with truck freight hauled across the borders continuing a nearly three-year growth streak.

According to the latest numbers from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, truck freight valued at more than $82 billion was hauled across the borders in November. That is a decrease of nearly 7% from October but represents growth of nearly 5% compared to November 2022.

The last time trucking cross-border freight experienced a year-to-year decrease was in February 2021. Since then, it has seen a 33-month streak of increases.

Cross-border freight hauled by trucks across the U.S. northern border rose by more than 5% compared to November 2022. At the southern border, the value of freight increased by nearly 4%.

The top three truck commodities at the northern border were computers/parts ($5.9 billion, up 7%), vehicles/parts ($5.5 billion, up 21.4%) and electrical machinery ($2.8 billion, up 19.6%). At the Mexican border, top commodities included electrical machinery ($10.5 billion, up 4.2%), computers/parts ($9.4 billion, down 6%) and vehicles/parts ($6.8 billion, up 16%).

Accounting for all modes of transportation, the total value of cross-border freight reached more than $131 billion in November. That is an increase of more than 4% compared to the previous year but a loss of more than 5% compared to the previous month.

November’s year-to-year improvement continued growth from October, which ended a seven-month losing streak. The last time overall cross-border freight had a year-to-year decline before the latest streak was in February 2021.

Canadian freight was up nearly 3% compared to the previous year, whereas Mexican freight jumped by more than 5%.

By weight, freight crossing the borders went up by more than 7% compared to November 2022 but was down by nearly 2% compared to October.

Four of the five modes showed an increase in freight value in November when compared to the previous year. Vessel freight notched the largest increase (11.5%), followed by rail (4.8%), trucking (4.6%) and airfreight (0.3%). Pipeline experienced the only year-to-year decrease at minus 4.7%. LL