William B. Cassidy | Aug 30, 2011 12:15PM EDT
The dollar value of U.S. surface trade with Canada and Mexico rose 11 percent in June to $77.5 billion, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics said Tuesday.
That’s a 52.7 percent increase from June 2009, when the economic recovery was just beginning, and a 4.6 percent increase over June 2008 — the previous high mark.
The June figures reflect increased international trade this year with customers and suppliers on both sides of the U.S. border, despite a faltering domestic economy. Trucking companies such as FedEx Freight, Swift Transportation and Averitt Express are expanding on both sides of the U.S. border as freight flow increases.
Canadian companies such as TransForce and Purolator are expanding in the U.S. to capture more cross-border business.
U.S.-Canada surface trade reached $46.1 billion in June, a 9.7 percent year-over-year increase, and U.S.-Mexico trade hit $31.4 billion, a 12.8 percent increase.
The value of NAFTA trade increased only 0.3 percent, however, from May. Since April, that value has increased 5 percent, and it is up 14.5 percent since January.
In June, 85.5 percent of U.S. trade by value with Canada and Mexico moved via land — truck, rail and pipeline — 10.3 percent by vessel, and 4.2 percent by air.
The value of U.S. exports increased slightly faster than that of imports, rising 11.8 percent year-over-year compared with a 10.3 percent increase for imports.
Trucks accounted for 70 percent of that freight by value, or $53.9 billion. Railroads handled $12.5 billion in cross-border trade, and $7.4 billion moved by pipeline.
Contact William B. Cassidy at wcassidy@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter at @wbcassidy_joc
