BTS reports Freight TSI is up sequentially and annually

The United States Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) recently reported that its Freight Transportation Services Index (Freight TSI) saw both sequential and annual gains, for the month of May, 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 airfreight.

The May reading—at 137.7—eked out a 0.1% gain from April to May, heading up for the third straight month. On an annual basis, it rose 8.1%, essentially reversing the 8.9% decline, for the same period in 2020, and a 2.3%, for the same period, in 2019.

BTS noted that the May Freight TSI reading trailed the all-time high, of 141.9 in August 2019, by 3.0%. And it added that the 0.1% increase from April to May was due to seasonally-adjusted increases in rail carloads, air freight, truck and water, despite declines in rail intermodal and pipeline, coupled with the increase occurring against the backdrop of mixed results for other indicators from April to May.

Along with increasing for the third straight month and for the fifth time in six months, the Freight TSI rose a cumulative 3.6% going back to November. And it tops any level it reached over the course of the pandemic while remaining below the November 2019 reading of 137.4 and has fallen in nine of the last 21 months going back to that month.

BTS reported that the May Freight TSI was 45.1% above the April 2009 low of 94.9, during the recession and is up 2.1% compared to the end of 2020. And it also stated that for-hire freight shipments are up 12.5% for the five-year period from May 2016 to May 2021 and are up 26.7%, going back to May 2011.