Freight index rose 1.2% in July from June

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The Freight Transportation Services Index rose 1.2 percent in July from its June level, rising for the fourth consecutive month, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported today, Sept. 10.

For the first seven months of 2008, the freight index advanced 4.2 percent, its largest increase for the first seven months of the year since 2002. In 2007, the index dropped 0.4 percent in the first seven months of the year.

The freight index has increased in six of the first seven months this year, declining only in March. At 112.9 in July, the Freight TSI was up 4.5 percent since its recent low of 108.0 in September 2007 and almost reached its historic peak of 113.1 reached in November 2005.

The July 2008 Freight TSI level was 4.1 percent above the July 2007 level of 108.4, the largest July-to-July gain since 2004. Despite the modest gains since 2004, the freight index has increased 8.5 percent in five years and 11.6 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. It includes historic data from 1990 to the present. The baseline year is 2000.