Freight Transportation Index Rises to Record Level for Second Month
The Department of Transportation’s freight transportation services index rose to an all-time high for the second consecutive month in November, DOT said Jan. 14.
The freight TSI increased 3.5% to 123.2 from the same time last year, DOT’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics said in its monthly report. DOT uses a baseline reading of 100 from the year 2000.
The TSI increased for the fifth month in a row in November, the ninth monthly increase in 2014.
“The growth in November was led by trucking, airfreight, pipelines and waterborne. During the month, several other indicators of related parts of the economy that often impact transportation increased. Employment and retail sales both increased, as did manufacturing output and total industrial production. Inventories increased to reach an historic high,” BTS said in the report.
The index rose 0.8% from October’s revised reading of 121.4.
Freight shipments are up 21.8% since the end of the recession in 2009 and have increased 10.1% since 2004.
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.
