1. 4 th Bi-Annual Border to Border Transportation Conference South Padre Island, Texas November 13-15, 2012 US-Mexico Cross-Border Freight Traffic Trends Geza Pesti and Rafael Aldrete-Sanchez Center for International Intelligent Transportation Research Texas A&M Transportation Institute

2. Significance Imports from Mexico Using Land Modes of Transport (1996- 2011 average) Following the 2007 global financial crisis, U.S. trade sharply declined worldwide. In 2009, imports from Mexico fall by 39.2% 1. Has there been a sustained recovery after 2009?

3. Identify trends in freight activities across the US- Mexico border Quantify temporal and spatial variations in surface trade. Objectives Analyze cross-border freight activities by Mode of transport Commodities Border states Ports and destination states Approach Trans-Border Surface Freight Database of the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics Primary Data Source:

4. Surface Trade between U.S. and Mexico Early 2000s recession 2007 global financial crisis

5. Import Export Surface Trade between U.S. and Mexico

6. Trade by Surface Mode All Surface Modes Truck Rail Import All Surface Modes Truck Rail Export

7. Seasonal Variation

8. Surface Trade of US States with Mexico Ranked Based on Value of Traded Goods (2005-2011) Texas California Michigan ArizonaIllinois Millions USD

9. Freight Flow by Commodities Change in the freight value was evaluated based on six commodity groups 2 : Group 1: Food, beverages, agricultural commodities (HS-code: 1-24) Group 2: Minerals, chemicals, plastic, fossil fuels (HS-code: 25-40) Group 3: Wood, fabrics, paper products, books (HS-code: 41-71) Group 4: Metals, metallic materials (HS-code: 72-81) Group 5: Manufactured goods (HS-code: 82-96) Group 6: Other goods (HS-code: 97-99)

10. Top Five Ports of Entry Over 80 % of cross-border trade between the US and Mexico is concentrated at the following five ports: Laredo, TX Hidalgo, TX El Paso, TX Otay Mesa Station, CA Nogales, AZ

11. LaredoEl PasoHidalgo Otay Mesa Nogales Import from Mexico (Billion USD) Import by Commodity Groups

12. LaredoEl PasoHidalgo Otay Mesa Nogales Export to Mexico (Billion USD) Export by Commodity Groups

13. Summary Trends and spatial variations in US- Mexico cross-border freight by Mode of transport Commodities Border states Ports and destination states Results in: CIITR Research Brief US-Mexico Cross-Border Freight Traffic Trends Looked at… Will be interesting to see …. Can the 2010-2011 positive trends be sustained? What will be the impact of the predicted “Fiscal Cliff” after January