Cross-border freight nears all-time high

North American freight is picking up, with cross-border freight hauled by trucks nearing an all-time high once again this year.

According to the latest data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the value of cross-border freight moved by trucks in June reached $83.4 billion, a nearly 2% increase from May. Compared to last June, North American truck freight is up 15.5%.

Cross-border freight moved by trucks for June is the second-highest on record.

In March, the value reached an all-time high of $85.5 billion. That record is poised to be broken if cross-border freight increases in July. However, North American truck freight dropped last July compared to the previous month.

Adjusted by weight, cross-border freight hauled by trucks dropped slightly by 0.2% to 11 million metric tons compared with May. However, North American truck freight weight is up compared to last year by more than 8%.

Canadian truck freight is up by nearly 2% by value but down 4% by weight. Meanwhile, Mexican truck freight is also up by nearly 2% by value and up nearly 4% by weight.

Trucking freight accounts for nearly 60% of all freight by value and 21.5% by weight. Vessel freight carries the most by weight (33%), followed by pipeline freight (30%).

Accounting for all modes of transportation, cross-border freight is up more than 1% to $141.2 billion compared to the previous month and up nearly 22% compared with last June.

That also is the second-highest on record, just barely lower than the all-time high. In March, the record-high was set at $141.85.

By weight, cross-border freight is down by 2% compared to May at 51.3 million metric tons. Compared to a year ago, that number is up by more than 1%.

Three of five modes experienced an increase in value compared with the previous month. Pipeline experienced the largest increase at nearly 9%, followed by airfreight’s nearly 5% increase. Vessel and rail freight decreased by 6% and 2%, respectively. LL