DOT Freight Index Drops
The Department of Transportation’s freight transportation services index for December fell 0.1% from a year earlier, DOT said Wednesday.
The freight TSI fell 1.3% from November, the biggest monthly decline since November 2006, DOT’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics said in its monthly report.
The decline dropped the freight index into negative territory in 2007, as it fell 0.1% for the full year.
Increases in October and November had turned the index positive after it was down the first nine months of the year, DOT said.
At a reading of 108.8, the freight index was down 3.8% from its peak of 113.1 in November 2005, and up 0.7% in the two months from its recent low of 108.1 in September 2007.
The TSI is a seasonally adjusted monthly index measuring the output of services provided by the for-hire transportation industries, including railroad, air, truck, inland waterways, pipeline and local transit.
