Technical documentation 7-1: International Merchandise Trade By Mode (Current value, in millions of U. S. Dollars)

See notes for Table 6-1a.

Method of Transportation, Imports: For imports, the mode of transport information represents the last mode of transport by which the cargo was transported to the port of clearance in Canada and is derived from the cargo control documents of Canadian Customs. This may not be the mode of transport by which the cargo arrived at the Canadian port of entry, if the cargo was cleared by Canadian Customs at an inland port. If, for example, the commodities imported from the United Kingdom arrived by ship in Toronto but are not cleared in Canada until they reach another city by truck, the mode reported in Canadian international trade statistics will be truck.

Method of Transportation, Exports: Exports by land modes of transportation in this table represent Canadian trade with a second country that were transshipped via a third country, generally the United States. For exports, the mode of transport information represents the mode of transport by which the international boundary is crossed. For Canadian exports via the United States to other overseas countries, the mode reported would be the mode used to cross the Canadian/U.S. border. If, for example, export shipments that are destined for the United Kingdom travel by truck through Fort Erie, Ontario, and are then shipped by water from a U.S. port to the United Kingdom, the mode reported in Canadian international trade data in this table will be truck.

In this table and for both import and export shipments, the category of Other is, for the most part, pipeline movements. Other also includes mail and parcel post and other miscellaneous modes of transport.

Table 7-1: International Merchandise Trade by Mode (Current value, in millions of U. S. Dollars), Canada

Method of Transportation, Imports: For imports, the mode of transport information represents the last mode of transport by which the cargo was transported at the Mexican port of entry and is derived from the cargo control documents of Mexican Customs. This may not be the mode of transport by which the cargo arrived to the port of clearance in Mexico, above for those cases where the cargo was cleared by Mexican Customs at an inland port.

Also for exports, the mode of transport information records the last mode of transport with which cargo crossed the customs of exit of the country.

Data refer to total overall exports and imports including North America. Total export and import figures are final data. However, figures on exports and imports for each mode of transport are preliminary. Totals differ from the sum of the modes because data for Postal and other are not shown, but are instead included in the overall totals.

For further information regarding the Mexican foreign trade statistics and differences with the statistics of the US and Canada, please see Annex D.4 (page 74) (Available in Spanish only)

See also notes for Tables 6-1c.

Method of transportation: The method of transportation is based on the method of transportation in use when the merchandise arrived at the U.S. Customs port of entry or departed a U.S. Customs port of exit. For Table 7-1, 1990-1996 data are only available for air and water modes of transportation.

In some instances, shipments between the United States and countries abroad enter or depart the United States through Canada or Mexico. These are called transshipments. Such transshipments are recorded under the method of transportation by which they enter or depart a U.S. Customs port regardless of the transportation mode used between Canada or Mexico and the final country of origin or destination. For U.S. exports via Canada to other overseas countries, the mode reported would be the mode used to cross the U.S./Canadian border. If, for example, export shipments that are destined for the United Kingdom travel by truck through Buffalo/Niagara Falls, NY, and are then shipped by water from a Canadian port to the United Kingdom, the mode reported in U.S. international trade data would be truck.

Surface trade value data are not available from 1990 to 1994. While these data are available for 1995 and 1996, they include transshipment data that cannot be separated (making the sum of the parts greater than the official total published by Census Bureau). For the time period April 1993 through December 1996, transshipments were included in official U.S. trade data with Canada and Mexico for land modes of transportation, and it is impossible to exclude these transshipments at an individual modal level. Therefore, data are nonexistent for land modes of transportation (road, rail, pipeline and other) for Table 7-1, before 1997. Beginning in January 1997, transshipment totals by truck and rail became available for the value of U.S. transshipments through Canada and Mexico. Data for these are included in the monthly detailed data files of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration, Bureau of Transportation Statistics' Transborder Freight Data.