The Freight Transportation Services Index rose 1.9 percent in May from its April level, the largest monthly increase since January, the Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported today, July 9.
Since an increase in January that was the largest in two years, the freight index failed to advance over the three months ending in April, before rising in May to return to its January level. At 111.4 in May, the Freight TSI was up 3.2 percent since its recent low of 108.0 in September 2007, but down 1.5 percent from its peak of 113.1 reached in November 2005.
The 2.8 percent increase in the freight index since December marked the fifth consecutive year the index increased in the first five months. The May 2008 Freight TSI level was 2.1 percent above the May 2007 level of 109.2, but the freight index remains below its May 2005 level of 111.7. However, the freight index has increased 8.7 percent in five years and 10.9 percent in 10 years.
The Freight TSI measures the month-to-month changes in the output of services provided by the for-hire freight transportation industries, including trucking, rail, inland waterways, pipelines and air freight. The seasonally adjusted index includes historic data from 1990 to the present. The baseline year is 2000.
