DOT Freight Transportation Index Rises 1.7%
The Department of Transportation’s freight transportation services index rose 1.7% in May from the same month in 2014, DOT said July 9.
The freight TSI increased 0.8% in May from April to a reading of 122.7, DOT’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics said in its monthly report.
“There was a large increase in trucking, reversing an April decline. Waterborne also rose along with a smaller increase in pipeline. These increases outweighed declines in airfreight, rail carloads and rail intermodal to produce the 0.8% rise in the overall freight index in May,” DOT said in a statement.
The April index was revised upward to 121.7 from 120.4.
May’s reading was 0.5% below the all-time high of 123.3 set in November 2014. DOT uses a baseline reading of 100 from the year 2000.
“Since peaking in November 2014, the index has alternated months of increases and decreases that left it still near the all-time high but 0.5% lower than in November, and at the same level as in January 2015,” DOT said.
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.
Bureau of Transportation Statistics