DOT Freight Transportation Index Falls 7.8%

The Department of Transportation’s freight transportation services index declined 7.8% in January from a year earlier, DOT said Wednesday.

The 7.8% decline was the fourth consecutive annual downturn, DOT’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics said in its monthly report.

The 105.1 reading left the freight index at its lowest level in almost six years, going back to May 2003 when it was 102.5. It is down 9.2% from its historic peak of 113.1, set in November 2005.

The index fell 2.3% in January compared to the prior month, DOT said. In the five years since January 2004, the index has dropped 3.5%, marking only the second decline in a five-year period since records began in 1990.

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.