The amount of freight carried by the for-hire transportation industry declined 1.5% in February from January, falling after two consecutive monthly increases, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics’ (BTS) Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI).
BTS, a part of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration, reported that shipments measured by the Freight TSI rose 12.9% over the last 22 months, starting in May 2009, after declining 15.7% in the previous 16 months beginning in January 2008.
Freight shipments have increased in 16 of the last 22 months. In February 2011, freight shipments were at about the same level as in September 2008 when the amount of freight was early in the decline.
For the first two months of 2011, freight shipments measured by the index were down 0.6 percent, trending down following a 6.4% rise in freight shipments for the full year 2010 and a 2.1% rise in during the final three months of 2010.
Freight shipments in February (106.5 on the index) rose 12.9%, from the recent low in April 2009 (94.3). In April, freight shipments were at their lowest level since July 1997. The February level is down from the historic freight shipment peak reached in January 2005.