DOT Freight Transport Index Rises 3.8% in July
The Department of Transportation’s July freight transportation services index rose 3.8% from a year ago, DOT said Wednesday.
The index’s reading of 108.3 was unchanged from June, which matched its second-highest reading since August 2008, topped only by March of this year.
DOT uses a baseline reading of 100 from the year 2000 for the freight TSI.
The index was below both the 109.9 reading of July 2008 and the all-time high for the month of July, a reading of 110.9 set in 2005.
Shipments are down 2.3% in the five years from July 2006, but up 10% from July 2001 despite recent declines, DOT said.
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.
