The Freight Transportation Services Index fell 0.4 percent in January to 107.9 from the December level of 108.4, falling after a one-month increase, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported today, March 14. The January freight index was down 4.4 percent from its peak of 112.8 in January 2005.
The overall index, which also includes passenger data, fell 0.6 percent in January to 109.5 from its December level of 110.1, falling after a one-month rise. The January decline was the fifth monthly decline in the past eight months and the 19th decline in the 37 months since January 2004. The index is 2.3 percent below its peak in May 2006. The decline in January was the first December-to-January decline since 2004.
The January level for the combined index was 1.2 percent lower than the January 2006 level, the second consecutive decline from January of the previous year. The January 2007 level was 7.8 percent higher than the January level of the base year of 2000, but was 1.8 percent lower than the January 2005 level.
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.
