The Freight Transportation Services Index rose 1.9 percent in May to 113.2 from the April level of 111.0, turning up after a one-month decline, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported today, July 7.
The Freight TSI May 2006 level is 0.4 percent higher than the May 2005 level, the sixth consecutive rise from May of the previous year — but the smallest year-to-year rise since a decline in 2000. For the first five months of 2006, the Freight TSI rose 2.0 percent, the third consecutive rise in the December-to-May period.
The overall TSI, which also includes passenger transportation data, rose 1.1 percent in May to 112.4 from its April level of 111.2, rising for the third consecutive month. Prior to these three monthly increases, the last time there were three consecutive monthly increases was in September, October and November 2004. For the first five months of 2006, the overall TSI rose 1.7 percent, the third consecutive December-to-May rise — but the smallest rise in the five-month period since a decline in 2003.
The May level for the combined freight and passenger index was 0.3 percent higher than the May 2005 level, the fourth consecutive increase from May of the previous year — but the smallest year-to-year rise since a decline in 2002. The May level was 12.7 percent higher than the May level of the base year of 2000.
TSI is a single seasonally adjusted index of the month-to-month changes in the output of services provided by the for-hire transportation industries, including railroad, air, truck, inland waterways, pipeline and local transit. The index includes historic data from 1990 to the present. The baseline year is 2000.
