DOT Freight Transportation Index Improves
The Department of Transportation’s freight transportation services index rose 0.8% in March from the same month last year, DOT said Wednesday.
The freight TSI slipped by the same amount, 0.8%, from February to a reading of 109.4.
The index uses a baseline 100 reading from the year 2000. December’s 113.7 reading was an all-time high since records began being kept in 1990.
March freight shipments were the fourth-highest level since the early recession month of July 2008, DOT said.
The index slipped 3.8% in the first quarter, the first decline after two increases. The index has improved in nine of the last 11 quarters.
The freight 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.
