As a small open economy, Canada is heavily dependent on trade. In fact, based on 2006 figures, just over 70 percent of Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP) is trade dependent, making Canada the second most open economy to trade in the world behind Germany and ahead of the UK, France, Italy, and the U.S. 1 The Canadian trucking industry offers flexible services that other transportation modes for the most part cannot provide, giving it a pivotal role in trade with both the U.S. (our largest as well as closest trading partner) and the rest of the world.
This article looks at the industry’s role nationally in terms of the value of goods carried cross border and internationally and at how those numbers translate locally into truck volumes at B.C.’s busiest commercial land border ports: Pacific Highway, Aldergrove and Huntingdon.
- Border Crossings: Canada-U.S. Trade
- Cross Border Truck Volumes in B.C.
- Pacific Highway (2000-2007)
- Aldergrove (2000-2007)
- Huntingdon (2000-2007)
- Beyond the Border: International and Total Trade
- Addendum: B.C. Truck Volume Charts (2000-2007)
Trade & Travel Patterns at the Canada-US Border
The Border Policy Research Institute (BPRI) at Western Washington University published a Special Report for Winter 2009 that examines a number of issues that affect cross-border flows of trade and travel. Because, as the report points out, Canada is the most important export market for the US and vice versa, the Canada-US relationship should be of "paramount importance to both countries’ governments and citizenry" from the viewpoint of economic self-interest. Click here to read about BPRI’s findings on the policy implications of cross-border volumes, regional and north-south variations, the effect of border security regimes, the Free and Secure Trade (FAST) program, NAFTA tariff rules, and other border-related issues.
Border Crossings: Canada-U.S. Trade
Trucks have an advantage in carrying certain types of goods across our border with the U.S. in that they are well-suited to carrying smaller loads of value-added goods and are often within one day’s drive of major destinations in the U.S. Trucking’s ability to ship goods quickly and efficiently from door to door is of significant importance to Canada-U.S. trade.
Canada’s trade in goods with the U.S. totalled nearly $575 billion in 2006, with southbound exports accounting for almost $358 billion and northbound imports for about $216 billion. 2 Trucks carried the bulk of both exports and imports at over 60 percent of that value (or about 51 percent of U.S.-bound exports and 77 percent of imports).
Table 1: Trucks and Canada’s Trade with the U.S., by busiest Border Crossing Points, 2006
| Crossing | Exports ($ Billion) |
Imports ($ Billion) |
Total ($ Billion) |
Share (% of total) |
| Windsor, ON | $62.0 | $60.7 | $122.7 | 35.3% |
| Fort Erie, ON | $34.1 | $15.3 | $49.4 | 14.2% |
| Sarnia, ON | $23.0 | $21.0 | $44.0 | 12.6% |
| Lacolle, QC | $12.4 | $5.1 | $17.5 | 5.0% |
| Emerson, MB | $6.4 | $8.2 | $14.6 | 4.2% |
| Pacific Highway, BC | $7.2 | $6.8 | $14.0 | 4.0% |
| Lansdowne, ON | $8.9 | $4.8 | $13.7 | 3.9% |
| Coutts, AB | $5.4 | $5.2 | $10.6 | 3.1% |
| Niagara Falls, ON | $0.1 | $8.6 | $8.7 | 2.5% |
| North Portal, SK | $2.2 | $4.8 | $7.0 | 2.0% |
| Philipsburg, QC | $3.8 | $2.2 | $6.0 | 1.7% |
| Huntingdon, BC | $1.8 | $1.1 | $2.9 | 0.8% |
| Rock Island, QC | $2.4 | $0.5 | $2.9 | 0.8% |
| St. Stephen, NB | $1.9 | $0.7 | $2.7 | 0.8% |
| Other | $10.2 | $21.0 | $31.0 | 8.9% |
| Total Trade by Truck | $181.8 | $166.0 | $347.8 | 100% |
| Total Canada-U.S. Trade | $358.4 | $216.4 | $574.8 | ------- |
| Trucking share | 50.7% | 76.7% | 60.5% | ------- |
Adapted from Transportation in Canada Annual Report 2006 & Addendum |
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Of the total value of Canada-U.S. trade in 2006, trucks carried 91 percent through 14 ports of entry across the country.
Cross Border Truck Volumes in B.C.
Most of the goods moving back and forth across the B.C.-Washington State border travel through the Pacific Highway, Aldergrove, and Huntingdon commercial land border ports. As indicated in Table 1, above, the Pacific Highway crossing in Surrey is the busiest in B.C. and, in 2006, was the 6th busiest in Canada in terms of both value of goods moved and traffic volume. Huntingdon in Abbotsford was the 12th busiest in terms of value and the 17th in terms of traffic volume.
Between 2000 and 2007, the total volume of trucks crossing the border at all three ports decreased by 9.8 percent. Truck volume peaked at 1,259,154 crossings in 2000, reaching a low of 1,056,629 in 2007. The average rate of decrease was 2.4 percent per year during this period. In 2007, total volume decreased by 3.5 percent after increasing slightly in 2006 by 0.72 percent.
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Figure 1: Source: IMTC |
Southbound truck volume for all commercial land ports decreased from 691,579 crossings in 2000 to 546,377 crossings in 2007; a decrease of 21.0 percent at an average rate of 3.2 percent per year. In 2007, volume decreased by 5.3 percent, which was the greatest drop since 2003, when it fell by 9.4 percent. The drop in 2007 also followed an increase in southbound volume of 1.6 percent in 2006, a negligible increase in 2005, and an increase of 2.1 percent in 2004, likely amplifying perceptions about the decline. Southbound volume was on average 10.6 percent higher than northbound volume between 2000 and 2007.
Although northbound truck volume also decreased, the change was much smaller than that in southbound volume. Northbound volume fell from a high of 567,575 crossings in 2000 to 510,252 crossings in 2007. At 10.1 percent, the decrease was roughly half of that in southbound volume. In 2007, northbound volume decreased by 1.5 percent, which was also the average rate per year between 2000 and 2007. It decreased by 0.19 percent in 2006 and 6.53 percent in 2005. Prior to that, volume increased in 2002 and 2004 by 3.3 percent and 2.4 percent respectively, and fell by 3.1 percent in 2003.
Pacific Highway (2000 – 2007)
Total truck volume at Pacific Highway decreased by 17.7 percent from a high of 951,995 in 2000 to 718,853 in 2007. It decreased at an average rate of 3.9 percent per year and was at its lowest at 718,589 crossings in 2005. In 2007, volume decreased only slightly by 0.09 percent, the smallest decrease since 2000. The reason for the small change in 2007 is that the decrease in southbound volume (-2.6 percent) was nearly off-set by an increase in northbound volume (+2.5 percent).
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Figure 2: Source: IMTC |
Southbound truck volume totalled 356,499 crossings in 2007, down by 31 percent from 516,829 crossings in 2000. It fell by an average of 5 percent per year between 2000 and 2007. In 2007, southbound volume dropped by 2.6 percent following an increase of 3.3 percent in 2006; a net change of nearly 6 percent. Southbound volume was on average 5 percent higher than northbound volume at the Pacific Highway crossing between 2000 and 2007.
Northbound volume decreased throughout most of the eight-year period, decreasing by 2.5 percent per year, from 435,166 crossings in 2000 to 362,354 crossings in 2007. However, 2007 was an exception to this downward trend when northbound volume increased by 2.5 percent above its 2006 level.
Aldergrove (2000 – 2007)
Unlike total truck volume at Pacific Highway, volume at the Aldergrove border crossing grew at an average rate of 4 percent per year between 2000 and 2007, peaking at 167,905 crossings in 2006, up by 28.8 percent from 120,646 crossings in 2000. Although total volume rose for the eight-year period, it fell by 7.4 percent in 2007. The only other decrease in total volume was half of that and occurred in 2005, when volume fell by 3.5 percent.
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Figure 3: Source: IMTC |
Southbound volume peaked at 60,072 truck crossings in 2003, growing at an average rate of 2 percent. Starting in 2004, it decreased by an average of 2.5 percent per year to 54,201 crossings in 2007, when it dropped by 3 percent. Despite the drop, it was nevertheless up 5.6 percent above volume in 2000, which totalled 51,330 crossings.
Northbound volume peaked at 112,052 crossings in 2006, growing at an average rate of 6.1 percent per year. It was up by 46 percent from the level in 2000, which totalled 69,316 crossings. The single largest drop occurred in 2007, when volume decreased by 9.7 percent to 101,211 crossings. The only other decrease in northbound volume occurred in 2005, when it dropped by 5.2 percent. Northbound volume was on average 71 percent higher than southbound volume at the Aldergrove crossing between 2000 and 2007.
Huntingdon (2000 – 2007)
Total truck volume at the Huntingdon border crossing grew by an average of 0.29 percent per year, but, following a sizeable drop in 2007, ended up 2.3 percent below its 2000 level of 186,513 crossings. Throughout the eight-year period, it declined twice; by 16.6 percent in 2003 and for two consecutive years in 2006 and 2007 by 3.0 percent and 12.1 percent respectively. It reached its peak in 2005 with a volume of 213,640 truck crossings. |
Figure 4: Source: IMTC |
Southbound volume grew on average by 1.9 percent per year, increasing from 123,420 crossings in 2000 to 135,677 crossings in 2007; an increase of 9 percent. It peaked at 157,998 crossings in 2005 increasing by 15.5 percent over the previous year. After 2005, southbound truck volume decreased by 1.8 and 12.6 percent in 2006 and 2007 respectively. Southbound volume was on average 119 percent higher than northbound volume at the Aldergrove crossing between 2000 and 2007.
Northbound truck volume decreased on average by 2.5 percent per year throughout the eight-year period. It peaked at 87,924 crossings in 2002. In 2007, it hit a period-low of 46,687 crossings decreasing by 10.5 percent below its 2006 level and 26.0 percent below its 2000 level when it totalled 63,093 crossings.
For complete totals for the number of crossings between 2000 and 2007, please see the Addendum.
Beyond the Border: International and Total Trade
International trade with countries other than the U.S. totalled over $257 billion in 2006. 3 Even though trucking is not the predominant mode of transportation for Canada’s world trade (where it is outstripped by marine and air transportation), it still carried a sizeable 23 percent of that trade. Trucks play a necessary role in international trade through intermodalism, moving goods on one leg of their journey to and from other terminals. Broken down by imports and exports, trucks carried 5 percent of the exports destined to countries other than the U.S. and about 31 percent of imports.
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Figure 5: Source: Transportation in Canada Annual Reports 2005 to 2006 & Addendum. Data on Canada’s international trade by trucks was first made available in Transport Canada Annual Reports starting in 2005. |
As Figure 5 shows, when Canada-U.S. and Canada-international trade totals are combined, trucking dominated transportation by value between 2004 and 2006. 4 Although in recent years growth in trade with international partners has outpaced that with the U.S., trucks still moved an average of about $403 billion of goods per year between 2004 and 2006, a little over 50 percent of Canada’s annual average trade for that period. If Canada’s economy depends on trade, then it also depends a great deal on trucks.
Addendum: B.C. Truck Volume Charts (2000 – 2007)
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Figure 6: Source: IMTC |
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Figure 7: Source: IMTC |
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Figure 8: Source: IMTC |
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Figure 9: Source: IMTC |