April TSI falls 0.1 percent

June 19, 2007
The Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI) fell 0.1 percent in April from its March level, falling after a one-month rise

The Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI) fell 0.1 percent in April from its March level, falling after a one-month rise, Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) has reported.

The April decline was the fourth in the last seven months. The freight TSI is down 3.5 percent from its peak of 112.8 first achieved in January 2005 but up 1.8 percent from its recent low of 107.1 in November 2006.

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.

For the year-to-date, the freight TSI rose 1.2 percent, compared to a 1.2 percent drop during the December-to-April period in 2006. The April freight TSI of 108.9 was down 0.6 percent from its April 2006 level and down 3.2 percent from its April 2005 level. Despite the recent declines, the freight index has increased 9.5 percent in five years and 17.8 percent in 10 years.