February NAFTA truck freight slightly down

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics reports that in February trucks moved 63% of February NAFTA freight – with trains, planes, ships and pipelines picking up the rest. Transborder freight was slightly down compared to January.

The value of freight hauled across the borders decreased by 1.2% compared with January, when NAFTA freight went up by 0.8% compared with the previous month. Valued at nearly $96 billion, total February NAFTA freight is the lowest since last February, when it was valued at more than $94 billion.

February NAFTA started a year-to-year winning streak.

Compared to February 2019, freight was up 1.9% after a 1.5% year-to-year increase in January and a 4% increase in December. December NAFTA’s yearly increase broke a four-month losing streak, the first streak of year-to-year decreases since 2016. August 2016 broke a long year-to-year decline streak that began in January 2015 and lasted through July 2016.

In 2019, NAFTA freight decreased by 0.8% compared to the previous year, with 63% of that freight carried by trucks. So far, 2020 is faring slightly better based on total freight value. However, the latest numbers reflect an economy before the COVID-19 pandemic forced many industries to shut down.

Trucks carried nearly $61 billion of the nearly $96 billion of cross-border imports and exports in February, down 0.5% from January but up 1% compared with February 2019. However, truck NAFTA freight for February was up more than 6% from December.

Month-to-month, Canada truck freight increased by 3%, whereas Mexico freight decreased by 3%. Top truck commodities were computers and parts, motor vehicles and parts, electrical machinery, plastics, and measuring/testing instruments.

February NAFTA freight totaled $95.9 billion, down by more than $1 billion from the previous month but an increase of nearly $2 billion from February 2019.

Vessel freight accounted for the largest decrease at 15.5% after dropping by nearly 6% in January. Rail experienced the largest increase at 7.5% after a similar decrease the previous month.

Nearly 57% of U.S.-Canada February NAFTA freight was moved by trucks, followed by rail at 15.5%. Of the more than $48 billion of freight moving in and out of Mexico, trucks carried 70% of the loads.