Transportation news: BTS Freight Transportation Services Index shows sequential and annual growth

The Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported today that its Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI) was up 0.3 percent in April from March. This marks the third straight month the Freight TSI grew on a sequential basis.

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 also noted that the Freight TSI at 98.1 was up 4.8 percent year-over-year. This is the second annual gain for the Freight TSI since July 2008. But it still remains below April levels in all previous years since 2000, when it was at 98.0.

According to the BTS, the April 2009 Freight TSI was down 15.3 percent from April 2008, when the Freight TSI was at its lowest level since April 1997’s 92.5. And the Freight TSI is down 12.1 percent in the five years from April 2005.

The Freight TSI has increased a cumulative 4.9 percent over the last 11 months, going back to June 2009, following a cumulative 15.3 percent decline for the previous ten months going back to August 2008, and it has increased in 9 of the last 11 months. To begin 2010, the Freight TSI was down 1.4 percent over the first four months of the year.