By Truck Parts & Service Staff
The Freight Transportation Services Index rose 0.7 percent in August from its July level, the second consecutive monthly increase, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics recently reported.
BTS, a part of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration, reported that the Freight TSI now has gone four consecutive months without a decline after dropping in nine of the previous 12 months. This is the first four-month period without a decline in the index since 2002. The August Freight TSI of 96.2 is a 2.7 percent increase from the recent low of 93.6 reached in April, its lowest level since June 1997.
“The continued rise of the Freight Transportation Services Index is evidence that America is moving towards economic recovery,” U.S. Transportation Ray LaHood said. “The impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and other actions taken by this administration are only beginning to be felt around the nation, but economic data like this should give us hope that our worst days are behind us. However, there is still a long road ahead, and we will not let this positive sign lull us into complacency. This administration remains committed to investing in transportation in order to ensure a prosperous future.”
The Freight TSI is down 14.8 percent from its historic peak of 112.9 reached in May 2006. The 10.9 percent decline in the Freight TSI from August 2008 to August 2009 was the largest August-to-August decline in the 20 years for which the TSI is calculated. The August Freight TSI of 96.2 is the lowest for August since August 1997 when it was 94.4.
The 4.2 percent decline in the first eight months of 2009 was the largest in the last decade, exceeding the 4.0 percent decline for the first eight months of 2000. The freight index is also down 12.2 percent in the five years from August 2004, and down 6.5 percent in the 10 years from August 1999. All the five-year and 10-year declines took place consecutively in the past several months.
The Freight TSI measures the month-to-month changes in the output of services provided by the for-hire freight transportation industries, including trucking, rail, inland waterways, pipelines and air freight. It includes historic data from 1990 to the present. The baseline year is 2000.
