The amount of freight carried by the for-hire transportation industry increased 1.9 percent in March from February to reach the highest level since July 2008, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics’ (BTS) Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI) released today. The March increase followed a decline in February.
BTS, a part of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration, reported that shipments measured by the Freight TSI rose 15.1 percent over the last 23 months, starting in May 2009, after declining 15.7 percent in the previous 16 months beginning in January 2008.
The Freight TSI measures the month-to-month changes in freight shipments in ton-miles, which are then combined into one index. The index measures the output of the for-hire freight transportation industry and consists of data from for-hire trucking, rail, inland waterways, pipelines and air freight.
Recent trend: Freight shipments have increased in 17 of the last 23 months. In March 2011, freight shipments reached their highest level since July 2008 when the amount of freight shipped was early in its decline. For additional historic data, go to http://www.bts.gov/xml/tsi/src/index.xml
Year-to-date: Freight shipments reached a 33-month high in March despite a slight slowdown in the rate of growth in the beginning of 2011 compared to the end of 2010. For the first three months of 2011, freight shipments measured by the index were up 1.3 percent following a 2.1 percent increase during the final three months of 2010.
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