The Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported today that its Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI) was flat from June to July.
This follows a 2.6 percent gain from May to June and a 1.8 percent decline from April to May.
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 108.3 is up 14.8 percent from the recent low of 94.3 in April 2009, which was its lowest level since July 1997. July’s Freight TSI is down 4.4 percent from its historic peak of 113.3 in January 2005.
The July Freight TSI is up 3.8 year-over-year but remains below the early recession level of July 2008 and the most recent July high of 110.9 from 2005, according to the BTS. And July marked the second highest level of freight shipments since August 2008.
The BTS said that freight shipments have been up in 18 of the last 27 months and 8 of the last 15, with shipments increasing 14.5 percent over the last 27 months since May 2009.