The Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) recently reported that its Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI) headed up 0.6 percent from July to August, the most recent month for which data is available.
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 August Freight TSI at 120.9 is 27.8 percent higher than the April 2009 low and now stands as the highest Freight TSI level since BTS first began collecting its data in 2000, edging out the previous high of 120.2 recorded in May of this year.
BTS officials said August’s increase was paced by continued gains in trucking and water and pipelines, which were up after a decline in July. And they added that the rise in freight took place despite a decline in industrial production and accompanied growth in personal income and inventories of manufactured goods.
On an annual basis, BTS said freight shipments in August were up 3.8 percent compared to August 2013 and are up 1.5 percent year-to-date through August.