DOT Freight Index Falls 14.8% in May
The Department of Transportation said its freight transportation services index fell 14.8% in May from a year earlier to its lowest level in 12 years.
The drop to 94 was the largest May-to-May drop in the 20-year history of TSI calculations, DOT’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics said in its monthly report Wednesday. The TSI fell 0.6% from April.
The index is at its lowest level since June 1997 and is down 16.7% from its peak in May 2006.
In the five years since May 2004, the index has dropped 14.6%, the sixth consecutive month in which the index has decline for a five-year period. In the last 10 years, the index is down 8.4%, the fifth and largest 10-year decline recorded. All other 10-year declines have been in 2009.
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.
