Cross-border freight ends seven-month losing streak

Cross-border freight hauled by trucks continues to improve, while North American freight overall broke a seven-month losing streak.

According to the latest numbers from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, truck freight valued at more than $88 billion was hauled across the borders in October. That is an increase of 7.4% from September and represents growth of nearly 6% compared to October 2022.

The last time trucking cross-border freight experienced a year-to-year decrease was in February 2021. Since then, it has been a 32-month streak of increases.

Cross-border freight hauled by trucks across the U.S. northern border rose by nearly 6% compared to October 2022. At the southern border, the value of freight increased by more than 6%.

The top three truck commodities at the northern border were computers/parts ($5.9 billion), vehicles/parts ($5.5 billion) and electrical machinery ($2.5 billion). At the Mexican border, top commodities included electrical machinery ($11.9 billion), computers/parts ($10.6 billion) and vehicles/parts ($7.8 billion).

Accounting for all modes of transportation, the total value of cross-border freight reached nearly $139 billion in October. That is an increase of 3.5% compared to the previous year and a gain of more than 5% compared to the previous month.

October’s year-to-year improvement stops a seven-month streak of losses. The last time overall cross-border freight had a year-to-year decline before the latest streak was in February 2021.

Canadian freight is up 0.5% compared to the previous year, whereas Mexican freight jumped by more than 6%.

By weight, freight crossing the borders went up by more than 2% compared to October 2022 and is up by nearly 4% compared to September.

Three of the five modes showed an increase in freight value in October when compared to the previous year. Rail freight notched the largest increase (6.2%), followed by trucking and vessel freight (3.1%). Pipeline experienced the largest year-to-year decrease at 12%, followed by airfreight (minus 3.7%). LL