North Dakota: Export Trading Relationships in the Ports-to-Plains Region

This is the second 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 North Dakota.

By 2015, North Dakota’s domestic exports by truck to states in the Ports-to-Plains region are projected to grow 217% from 2002 reaching a value of $3.8 billion.  South Dakota ($1.8 billion) and Montana ($411 million) are the largest domestic export markets. Texas and Colorado are both export markets by truck of over $300 million each.

Internationally, Canada was the destination for $3.3 billion of North Dakota exports by truck in 2011.  That market has grown 384% 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 significantly faster than the total trade by truck, reaching 840% since 2004. The market share of North Dakota truck trade exports to Canada using the Ports-to-Plains region has grown more than 25% since 2004. Specifically the Raymond MT border crossing has seen an increase of over 982% since 2004, while Portal ND has seen an increase in North Dakota truck exports of over 898%. 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, while a significantly smaller market, North Dakota exported a total of $24 million of goods to Mexico by truck.  This market grew, however, by over 452% since 2004. Summarizing the role of the border crossings of Del Rio, Eagle Pass and Laredo to evaluate the role of Ports-to-Plains on these total truck values, shows an increase in the role of the backbone corridor in export trade.  The included data summarizes this role under PTP.  In 2011, North Dakota exports by truck through these three border crossings accounted for over 87% of its total truck exports to Mexico. This percentage of market share has grown 6.5% since 2004.  This value has grown 497% since 2004. 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. 

In summary, truck exports from North Dakota, domestically and internationally, to Canada and Mexico continue to grow in value and the market share using the border crossings served by the corridor continues to grow. 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 North Dakota 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