Freight TSI drops for second month in a row, reports BTS
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This marks the second straight decline, coming off of a 0.7 percent January to February decrease.
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 March Freight TSI at 120.0 was 2.8 percent below the all-time high of 123.7 from November 2014 and is 26.7 percent above the recent low of 94.7 recorded in April 2009.
“The March Freight TSI decrease of 0.9 percent from February was broad in terms of mode – all freight modes decreased except for air freight, which rebounded after a significant decrease in February,” said BTS in a statement. “The decrease was driven by continued weakness in the mining (including oil and gas well drilling and servicing), utility and manufacturing sectors of the economy. The Federal Reserve Board Industrial Production index declined 0.6 percent in March, its second consecutive monthly decline. Housing starts were 8.8 percent below the February level.”
And BTS added that the first-quarter TSI decline of 1.2 percent from the fourth quarter matched trends in the larger economy. GDP growth decreased to the relatively slow annual rate of 0.5 percent, and the Industrial Production index also declined during the first quarter, it said.
The Freight TSI is 1.2 percent below December 2015’s reading and is at its lowest level going back to March 2014. The first quarter decline of 1.2 percent marks its largest quarterly decline going back to the third quarter of 2012, with the Freight TSI dropping in four of the last five quarters.
On an annual basis, the Freight TSI is down 2.4 percent compared to March 2015.
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