Colorado: Export Trading Relationships in the Ports-to-Plains Region

This is the third of nine articles that provide a state by state look at the exports by truck along the Ports-to-Plains Corridor.  This data looks at the state of Colorado. Colorado is a bit of a mixed bag when its exports by trucks throughout the Ports-to-Plains region are evaluated.  Domestic exports along the corridor continue to grow with a projection to more than double by 2015. Exports to Canada have decreased since 2004 but the role of the backbone corridor has increased. Colorado’s truck exports to Mexico have grown slightly but the past year was excellent.

By 2015, Colorado’s domestic exports by truck to states in the Ports-to-Plains region are projected to grow 107% from 2002 almost reaching a value of $11.7 billion.  Texas ($3.1 billion), Wyoming ($2.9 billion) and Nebraska ($2.2 billion) are the largest domestic export markets in the region.  Between 2002 and 2007 domestic truck exports within the region already increased by 81% to $10.2 billion.

Internationally, Canada was the destination for over $1.1 billion of Colorado exports by truck in 2011.  That amount, however, has decreased 16.7% since 2004.  On the northern border, the border crossings of Sweetgrass MT, Wild Horse MT, Raymond MT and Portal ND are used to evaluate the role of Ports-to-Plains on these total truck values.  Exports through those border crossings have grown. While total exports with Canada have increased by 16.7%, these border crossings have seen over a 44% increase in value since 2004.  The market share of Colorado truck trade exports to Canada using the Ports-to-Plains region has grown more than 10% since 2004.  In 2004, 13.9% of Colorado’s exported value passed through these border crossings. In 2011, that market share had grown to 24.2%. Specifically the Portal ND and Raymond MT border crossings have seen a significant increase in value since 2004. The Canada data breaks this down to the specific border crossings and provides a top ten listing for the commodities moved by surface transportation to Canada as well as similar lists with the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan.

In 2011, Colorado exported a total of $633 million of goods to Mexico by truck.  This market grew, however, by only 6% since 2004, but in the past year it grew over 35% from 2011. The role of the border crossings of Del Rio, Eagle Pass and Laredo are summarized to evaluate the role of Ports-to-Plains on these total truck values.  The included data summarizes this role under PTP.  In 2011, Colorado exports by truck through these three border crossings accounted for over 72% of its total truck exports to Mexico. The 2011 value of almost $461 million has grown over 26% in the past year. The included data breaks this down to the specific border crossings and provides a top ten listing for the commodities moved by surface transportation to Mexico as well as similar lists with the Mexico states of Coahuila, Nuevo Laredo and Tamaulipas. 

To see the full data, look at the information below.

This data is designed to give a measurable picture of the role the Ports-to-Plains Corridor plays in the movement of freight to Mexico and Canada and domestically north through the other eight states of the Ports-to-Plains region.  It will be clear that this role is not just for communities along the backbone corridor, but is based on the probability that as freight moves on a north-south axis through the region, at some point, it will travel on the backbone corridor.  These numbers address only the goods that are initiated within Colorado and do not address the intra-state movements, the movements of goods through the region from other states, the movement of imports, nor the goods that move through the region between Mexico and Canada.

The international trade data comes from Bureau of Transportation Statistics North American Transborder Freight Data (http://www.bts.gov/programs/international/transborder/TBDR_QA.html).  domestic data is from the Freight Analysis Framework by Center for Transportation Analysis in the Oak Ridge National Laboratory under funding from the Federal Highway Administration (http://faf.ornl.gov/fafweb/Extraction2.aspx).

Link to PDF of Data