The Freight Transportation Services Index rose 0.1 percent in June from its May level, rising for the second consecutive month, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported today, Aug. 13.
For the first six months of 2008, the freight index advanced 2.9 percent, its largest increase for the first six months of the year since 2002. In 2007, the freight index dropped 0.4 percent in the first half of the year before rising about the same amount in the last six months to finish virtually unchanged for the year.
Despite a big increase in May and a sharp decline in March, the freight index was at about the same level in June as in January. At 111.5 in June, the Freight TSI was up 3.3 percent since its recent low of 108.0 in September 2007 but down 1.4 percent from its peak of 113.1 reached in November 2005.
The June 2008 Freight TSI level was 2.9 percent above the June 2007 level of 108.4, but below its June 2006 level of 112.7. Despite the decline from the June 2006 level, the freight index has increased 8.1 percent in five years and 10.3 percent in 10 years.
The seasonally adjusted 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. It includes historic data from 1990 to the present. The baseline year is 2000.
