DOT Freight Index Falls 8.5% in April
The Department of Transportation said its freight transportation services index fell 8.5% in April from a year earlier to its lowest level in seven years.
The drop to 100.1 was the largest April-to-April drop in the 20-year history of TSI calculations, DOT’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics said in its monthly report Wednesday. The TSI fell 1.2% from March.
The index is at its lowest level since April 2002 and is down 11.4% from its peak in November 2005.
In the five years since April 2004, the index has dropped 9.4%, the fifth consecutive month in which the index has decline for a five-year period. In the last 10 years, the index is down 1.7%, the second 10-year decline recorded. The first 10-year decline was in March.
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.
