Southbound Border Crossing Quantities

[Jim L]

I found a really neat website that has oodles of information available.

https://www.bts.gov/statistical-releases

I found the following information. This is the number of truck crossings from Ontario into the US. The latest data point is May 2025 but I'm sure that this trend is continuing through June, July and now August. Truck crossings from Ontario to the US is down 11% from May 2025 vs May 2024. Another interesting tidbit is that in the same period the Bluewater bridge has increased their crossings while the Ambassador bridge has decreased which points to why the BWB is just a disaster all the time. BWB is up 11k while AMB is down 33k for the same period.

Port Name	May 2024	May 2025	Diff%
Alexandria Bay	16,227	14,500	-10.6%
Buffalo Niagara Falls	78,424	70,059	-10.7
Detroit	125,617	91,782	-26.9
International Falls	1,414	1,049	-25.8
Port Huron	78,635	89,836	14.2
Sault Sainte Marie	2,840	2,691	-5.2
Total	303,157	269,917	-11.0

​

I know I don't have to tell you that the freight market is depressed but now you know by how much.

 

[Rob]

If those numbers do not give everyone a bit of a wake up nothing will. 11% year over year down in a month is wow. 33240 loads difference year over year.

 

[EricG]

If those numbers do not give everyone a bit of a wake up nothing will. 11% year over year down in a month is wow. 33240 loads difference year over year.

Exactly!

 

[Jim L]

Here is an update. I ran the report for the last available dataset of Aug 2025.
This is for crossings through ports in Ontario only.
YoY for Aug - total crossings down 22,748 (8% lower) than last year.
Difference between Aug 2025 and May 2025(3 months) down 6,294 crossings (2%)

Now you know just how bad it is out there.

Fun fact - BWB - Port Huron still has a much higher increase in traffic (obviously diverted from Ambassador Bridge) which explains why it is still a disaster crossing at that port.

Port Name	Measure	May 2024	May 2025		Aug 2024	Aug 2025
Alexandria Bay	Trucks	16,227	14,500		15,107	13,526
Baudette	Trucks	374	265		216	236
Buffalo Niagara Falls	Trucks	78,424	70,059		74,783	69,545
Detroit	Trucks	125,617	91,782		110,996	89,461
Grand Portage	Trucks	1,108	1,088		1,234	902
International Falls	Trucks	1,414	1,049		1,650	1,206
Lancaster	Trucks	478	247		341	241
Massena	Trucks	2,019	1,714		2,075	1,408
Ogdensburg	Trucks	3,268	3,202		3,094	2,931
Port Huron	Trucks	78,635	89,836		80,757	88,616
Sault Sainte Marie	Trucks	2,840	2,691		2,634	2,067
Total	310,404	276,433		292,887	270,139