Most recent Freight TSI reading is mixed, reports BTS

The United States Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) recently reported that its Freight Transportation Services Index (Freight TSI) saw a sequential decrease and an annual gain, for June, 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 June reading—at 136.9—was off 0.2% compared to May. And it was also the second straight decrease, for a cumulative 0.6% going back to April, and also the fourth decrease over the last eight months. What’s more, BTS said that the current Freight TSI reading is above any level recorded over the course of the pandemic, going back to before April 2021 while remaining below its November 2019 level.  

On an annual basis, it saw a 5.6% annual gain, well outpacing a 7% decline, for the same period, from June 2019 to June 2020, and a 1.4% annual gain, from June 2018 to June 2019.

BTS noted that the June Freight TSI reading was 3.5% below the August 2019 all-time high, at 141.9 and has fallen in eleven of the last 22 months since reaching that peak. The June Freight TSI was also 44.3% above the April 2009 low of 94.9.

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.