Office of Operations Freight Management and Operations

Table 2-9. U.S. Land Exports to and Imports from Canada and Mexico by Transportation Mode: 1998-2006 (Current $ Millions)

Trade with Canada by land modes is much higher than trade with Mexico. Both have been growing rapidly over the past few years. Imports from and exports to Mexico measured by value grew by 85 percent and 66 percent respectively between 1998 and 2006. Imports from and exports to Canada grew by 72 percent and 52 percent respectively over the same period.

Table in Excel format | Historical data

empty Cell 1998 2000 2005 2006
Exports to Canada, total 137,745.4 154,847.4 192,907.5 209,283.2
Truck 114,806.1 129,825.3 151,221.7 164,318.1
Rail 12,279.6 12,946.5 19,321.9 22,477.8
Pipeline 93.4 161.6 2,393.9 2,180.0
Other1 10,559.5 11,913.4 19,933.1 20,263.4
Mail 6.8 0.6 36.9 43.8
Exports to Mexico, total 70,173.8 97,158.9 104,276.5 116,749.2
Truck 60,432.1 82,389.2 83,341.2 92,991.6
Rail 6,188.8 10,495.8 15,747.7 17,271.2
Pipeline 73.4 301.8 543.3 707.0
Other1 3,470.0 3,972.0 4,622.7 5,779.1
Mail 0.1 (R) <0.1 (R) 2.2 0.3
Imports from Canada, total 162,105.7 210,270.5 265,402.1 278,889.2
Truck 108,856.7 127,816.3 143,695.6 149,884.0
Rail 37,374.1 49,699.2 60,606.3 63,258.4
Pipeline 11,120.1 23,117.1 48,766.5 53,865.2
Other1 4,575.1 9,571.0 12,184.4 11,736.0
Mail 1.7 4.1 0.1 0.2
FTZ2 177.9 62.8 149.3 145.5
Imports from Mexico, total 84,102.9 113,436.5 135,400.5 155,205.1
Truck 65,883.7 88,668.7 112,267.6 126,463.6
Rail 12,029.7 21,056.1 20,782.2 25,863.5
Pipeline 2.4 11.5 0.0 55.4
Other1 917.8 1,573.9 1,990.2 2,399.2
Mail 0.2 0.6 (R) <0.1 (R) <0.1
FTZ2 2,886.7 2,125.7 360.4 423.3

Key: R = revised.

1“Other" includes “flyaway aircraft” or aircraft moving under their own power (i.e., aircraft moving from the manufacturer to a customer and not carrying any freight), powerhouse (electricity), vessels moving under their own power, pedestrians carrying freight, and unknown and miscellaneous.
2Foreign Trade Zones (FTZs) were added as a mode of transport for land import shipments beginning in April 1995. Although FTZs are treated as a mode of transportation in the Transborder Surface Freight Data, the actual mode for a specific shipment into or out of an FTZ is unknown because U.S. Customs does not collect this information.

Note: Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding.

Source: U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Transborder Surface Freight Data, available at www.bts.gov/transborder as of June 1, 2007.


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