BTS reports a slight decrease in Freight TSI in March

The Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported today that its Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI) dipped 0.8 percent from February to March.

This follows a 0.5 percent increase from January to February and a 3.6 percent decline from December to January.

According to BTS officials, the Freight TSI measures the month-to-month changes in freight shipments in ton-miles, which are then combined into one index. The index measures the output of the for-hire freight transportation industry and consists of data from for-hire trucking, rail, inland waterways, pipelines and air freight.

The BTS said that the March TSI at 109.4 is down from February’s 110.3 and December 2011’s 113.7, which stands as the highest Freight TSI on record since BTS began collecting data in 1990.

March shipments reached the fourth highest level since July 2008, said BTS. And shipments have seen gains in 23 of the last 35 months and have gone up a cumulative 16.0 percent since dropping to a recent low of 94.3 in April 2009.