DOT’s Transportation Services Index Declines for 2006

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The U.S. Transportation Department’s transportation services index fell 0.4% in 2006, its first annual decline since 2001, DOT said Wednesday.The TSI is a combination of freight and passenger indexes. The freight level fell for a second straight year, dipping 2.3% following a 0.3% downturn in 2005. The 2006 falloff was the biggest drop since a 7% decline in 2000.The December TSI rose 0.9% from November, following a one-month decline of 0.3%. December’s 110.1 reading was 0.4% lower than a year earlier, though, the first year-to-year decline for the month of December since 2001.December’s freight index reading rose 0.8% from November, following two declines. The 108.4 freight reading was 3.9% off its peak of 112.8 in January 2005.The December freight reading was the lowest for a December since 2003 and was 2.3% below a year earlier, the largest decline since 2000 and the second largest decline in the last 10 years, DOT said.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.