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Jul 12, 2007 11:26 AM

The Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI) rose 0.1 percent in May from its April level, rising after a one-month decline, according to the Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

The freight TSI measures the month-to-month changes in the output of services provided by the for-hire freight transportation industries. The index consists of data from for-hire trucking, rail, inland waterways, pipelines, and air freight.

The May rise was the fourth in the last six months. The freight TSI peaked in November 2005 at 113.1, but the May TSI is up 1.3 percent from its recent low of 108.3 in November 2006.

For the year-to-date, the freight TSI rose 0.8 percent, compared to a 1.6 percent increase during the December-to-May period in 2006.

The May freight TSI of 109.7 was down 3.0 percent from its May 2006 level, the largest May-to-May decline in the 17 years of the index.

The May index is 1.8 percent lower than the May 2005 level and 0.3 percent lower than the May 2004 level. Despite the recent declines, the freight index has increased 8.5 percent in five years and 18.6 percent in 10 years.