DOT Freight Index Rebounds in February
The Department of Transportation’s freight transportation services index rose 2.1% in February from the same month last year and rose from January, rebounding from two sequential monthly declines.
The freight TSI rose to a reading of 115.2 — the third-highest ever and just 2% below the all-time high of 117.6 set in November, DOT’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics said April 9.
BTS, which uses a baseline reading of 100 from the year 2000, also said it revised the December and January indexes upward.
The rebound was dominated by trucking and rail intermodal as the other freight modes declined or were stable, BTS said.
“The unusually severe weather that hampered freight shipments in January continued in February, but demand for goods to ship increased despite the weather,” BTS said. “The Federal Reserve Board’s industrial production Index, which had declined in the face of January’s severe weather, rebounded in February.”
The freight TSI is a seasonally adjusted monthly index measuring the output of services provided by the for-hire transportation industries. They include railroad, air, truck, inland waterways, pipeline and local transit.
