DOT Freight Transport Index Drops 1.2%

The Department of Transportation’s freight transportation services index fell 10.5% in October from a year earlier, the largest October-to-October decline in the 20 years in which it has been calculated.

The index fell 1.2% from September, reaching 94.5, DOT’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics said in its monthly report Wednesday. The figure is a 1% increase from the recent low of 93.5 reached in May, the lowest level since June 1997.

The freight index has declined in 11 of the past 15 months, DOT said. It has fallen 5.8% in the first 10 months of 2009.

The freight index has declined 14.2% in the five years from October 2004 and 9.3% in the 10 years from October 1999.

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.