The Transportation Services Index (TSI) for freight fell 0.4 percent in January from the December level, falling after a one-month increase, according to information from the Department of Transportation (DOT).
The January freight index of 107.9 was down 4.4 percent from its peak of 112.8 in January 2005.
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 overall TSI fell 0.6 percent in January from its December level, falling after a one-month rise. The January decline of 0.6 percent 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 of 109.5 for the combined freight and passenger 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.