Though the year-over-year freight index is down, the Freight Transportation Services Index increased 2.9 percent since June 2009. Those gains have come since the Freight TSI’s lowest level since June 1997, which was May 2009. The index hit its peak in May 2006 with a Freight TSI of 112.9. 2009 ended with a December Freight TSI of 96.2, a 2.9 percent increase since May’s 93.5. The Freight TSI is a seasonally adjusted index that measures the month-to-month output of the for-hire freight transportation industry and consists of data from for-hire trucking, rail, inland waterways, pipelines and air freight.

Freight Index Shows Slight Gains Since May 2009

The Freight Transportation Services Index was unchanged in December from its November level after one monthly increase, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported Thursday, Feb. 18. BTS, a part of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration, reported that though the Freight TSI declined 4.1 percent during 2009, the index increased 2.9 percent over the last seven months of the year, beginning in June.

The December Freight TSI of 96.2 is a 2.9 percent increase from the recent low of 93.5 reached in May, when the index was at its lowest level since June 1997. However, the Freight TSI is down 14.8 percent from its historic peak of 112.9 reached in May 2006. With the 4.1 percent decline in 2009 following an 8.7 percent decline in 2008, the Freight TSI has declined 12.4 percent in two years. The freight index is also down 13.2 percent in the five years from December 2004, and down 8.4 percent in the 10 years from December 1999.

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