North America freight numbers released for April 2015

Officials with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), a branch of the U.S. Department of Transportation, recently released the freight numbers for the month of April this year.

U.S.-NAFTA freight amounted to $93.3 billion for the month of April this year. All of the transportation modes except air transported less U.S.-NAFTA freight when compared with April 2014.

The value for U.S.-NAFTA freight for all of its modes has fallen by 6.8 percent year over year. These significant decreases for NAFTA’s trade value via vessel and pipeline through April are because of the decreased unit price for mineral fuel shipments.

When comparing April 2015 to April 2014, the value for moving commodities through air has increase by three percent. In contrast, moving commodities via other methods has decreased for the same time period; rail freight and truck freight have declined by 0.9 percent, and vessel freight has also declined by 22.8 percent. Alternatively, pipeline freight has declined by 44.9 percent because of the reduced unite price for mineral fuel shipments.

An estimated 64.2 percent of U.S.-NAFTA freight was carried by trucks. This is the most frequently used method for moving commodities from and to U.S.-NAFTA partners. These trucks amount to $29.8 billion of U.S.-NAFTA’s $49.1 billion import business (60.8 percent) and $30.1 billion of the company’s $44.3 billion export business (67.9 percent).