North American Transportation Statistics: Over 97 Million Personal Vehicles Entered the U.S. in 2009

PDF

Contact BTS 55-10 Dave Smallen 202-366-5568

Thursday, November 18, 2010 - More than 97 million personal vehicles entered the United States in 2009, 26.7 million from Canada, and 70.3 million from Mexico, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics' (BTS) (Table 1). Additionally, 9.3 million trucks, 344,809 buses, and 31,509 trains entered the U.S. in 2009 (NATS database, Table 12-3).

BTS, a part of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration, released the data today as part of the sixth annual update of the North American Transportation Statistics (NATS) online database.

The NATS online database also includes data on U.S. trade and transportation with Canada and Mexico . Goods valued at more than $735 billion crossed the U.S. border in trade with Canada and Mexico in 2009, 23.7 percent lower than the record high set in 2008, according BTS (Table 2).

U.S. merchandise trade with Canada and Mexico, its two largest trading partners, rose by more than $24 billion or by 3.3 percent in the five years between 2004 and 2009 (Table 2).

This sixth annual update of the NATS database contains the most comparable transportation-related data available from the United States, Canada, and Mexico in a one-stop online resource. The NATS database is co-sponsored by BTS and the U.S. Census Bureau with the federal-level transportation and statistical agencies of Canada and Mexico.

The value of freight shipments moving between the United States, Canada and Mexico grew at an average rate of 0.7 percent per year between 2004 and 2009. The total value of U.S. freight shipments with Mexico grew 14.6 percent or 2.8 percent annually. Goods shipped in trade with Canada declined 3.5 percent or 0.7 percent annually (Table 2).

Trucks carried 62 percent of this freight measured by value, $455 billion in 2009. Rail carried 13 percent, followed by maritime with 8 percent, pipeline with 7 percent, and air with 5 percent. Truck was the largest modal decrease in shipment value from 2008 to 2009 - $100 billion, followed by rail, down $45 billion, and pipeline, down $39 billion (NATS database, Table 6-1c).

Data in the NATS database shows America's top gateways for trade with Canada and Mexico. In 2009, Laredo, TX, was the top road gateway with $79.8 billion in international road shipments passing through that gateway (Table 3).

The NATS-OD figures show, among other things, the importance of the various modes of transportation involved in the movement of goods between Canada, Mexico and the U.S., and presents statistics indicating the relationships among transportation, international trade, economy, security, energy and the environment. Additionally, the NATS-OD incorporates technical and methodological footnotes in English, French and Spanish to provide users with interpretation and analysis.

A product of the North American Transportation Statistics Interchange established in 1991, the NATS database provides three-country comparative information on transportation activity and its impact. It covers the following subject areas: country overview, transportation and the economy, transportation safety, transportation's impact on energy and the environment, domestic freight activity, North American merchandise trade, international merchandise trade, domestic passenger travel, North American passenger travel, international passenger travel, transportation infrastructure, and vehicles.

As of this year, NATS-OD includes a new indicator on the fuel efficiency of new vehicles. This new indicator was developed in response to the need for harmonized data to support environmental and transportation decision-making at national and trilateral levels.

With text available in English, French, and Spanish, the NATS database can be found at http://nats.sct.gob.mx/

Table 1 - 2009 Vehicle Crossings into the United States

Excel | CSV

Notes:
Truck crossings: Number of arriving trucks; does not include privately owned pick-up trucks.
Train crossings: Rail data for U.S.-Mexico border are for rail (loaded and unloaded) containers and U.S.-Canada numbers are for number of trains, not containers. Privately owned vehicle crossings: Number of privately owned vehicles (POVs) arriving at a particular port. Includes pick-up trucks, motorcycles, recreational vehicles, taxis, snow-mobiles, ambulances, hearses, and other motorized private ground vehicles.
Bus crossings: Number of arriving buses at a particular port, whether or not they are carrying passengers.

Source: North American Transportation Statistics Online Database, available at http://nats.sct.gob.mx/nats, November 18, 2010.

Table 2 - U.S. Merchandise Trade with Canada and Mexico by Freight Transportation Mode

(billions of current dollars)

Excel | CSV

Note: Individual modes do not sum to total trade figures because the total excludes freight moved by "other modes" such as aircraft from manufacturer to customers, pedestrians carrying freight, and miscellaneous.

Note: Due to the rounding of certain numbers tabulated, sum totals of U.S.-Canada and U.S.-Mexico trade vary slightly.

Source: North American Transportation Statistics Online Database, available at http://nats.sct.gob.mx/nats, November 18, 2010.

Table 3 - Top 10 U.S. Gateways Trading with Canada and Mexico by Truck

Ranked by 2009 Road Trade Value
(millions of dollars)

Excel | CSV

Source: North American Transportation Statistics Online Database, available at http://nats.sct.gob.mx/nats, November 18, 2010.