The Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported this week that its Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI) increased 0.3 percent from June to July, following a 0.2 percent decline from May to June.
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 July Freight TSI at 114.3 is 0.8 percent below the all time high of 115.2 recorded in December 2011 and 20.5 percent higher than the recent low of 94.9 recorded during the depths of the recession in April 2009.
And it added that the Freight TSI hit its highest level for all of 2013 and is second all time—since the data first began being collected in 2000—with December 2011 at the top.
The Freight TSI has seen gains in seven of the last nine months.
BTS said that the June’s Freight TSI is up 2.4 percent annually and is up 1.8 percent on a year-to-date basis through the first seven months of 2013.