BTS reports Freight TSI falls 1.0 percent from March to April

The Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported today that its Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI) decreased 1.0 percent from March to April, following a 1.9 percent increase from February to March.

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 April Freight TSI at 107.5 is up 14.0 percent from the recent low of 94.3 in April 2009, which was its lowest level since July 1997. April’s Freight TSI is down 5.1 percent from its historic peak of 113.3 in January 2005.

The April Freight TSI is up 3.7 year-over-year but remains below the early recession level of April 2008 and the most recent April high of 112.2 from 2005, according to the BTS.

For all of 2010, the Freight TSI was up a revised 6.2 percent from the previous metric of 6.4 percent. And for the fourth quarter, freight shipments were up a revised 1.9 percent from a previous metric of 2.1 percent.