Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI): Freight Shipments Fell 1.5% in February from January

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Freight Transportation Services Index, Mar 2009-Feb 2011

Freight Transportation Services Index, Mar 2009-Feb 2011

Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - The amount of freight carried by the for-hire transportation industry declined 1.5 percent in February from January, falling after two consecutive monthly increases, according to the U.S. Department of Transportations Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI) released today (Table 1).

BTS, a part of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration, reported that shipments measured by the Freight TSI rose 12.9 percent over the last 22 months, starting in May 2009, after declining 15.7 percent in the previous 16 months beginning in January 2008.

Freight shipments have increased in 16 of the last 22 months (Table 2). 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 additional historic data, go to http://www.bts.gov/xml/tsi/src/index.xml.

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.

For the first two months of 2011, freight shipments measured by the index were down 0.6 percent, trending down following a 6.4 percent rise in freight shipments for the full year 2010 and a 2.1 percent rise in during the final three months of 2010 (Table 3). See the March 9 TSI press release.

Freight shipments in February (106.5 on the index) rose 12.9 percent, 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 (113.3)

Although freight shipments rose 4.1 percent from February 2010 to February 2011, they remain below the recent high for the month of February (111.6) reached in 2008 (Table 4). December 2009 was the first month since September 2008 in which shipments measured by the Freight TSI exceeded the level of the same month of the previous year. Since then, shipments have exceeded the previous years level every month but still remains below the level of years before the most recent year.

The freight index is down 3.0 percent in the five years from February 2006. The index is up 7.7 percent in the 10 years from February 2001 despite recent declines (Table 5).

The TSI is a seasonally adjusted index that measures changes from the monthly average of the base year of 2000. It includes historic data from 1990 to the present. Release of the March index is scheduled for May 11.

For a video explanation of the TSI, see Overview of the Transportation Services Index. A BTS report explaining the TSI, Transportation Services Index and the Economy, is available for download.

Transportation Services Index for Passengers

The TSI for passengers fell 1.0 percent in February from its January level (Table 6). The Passenger TSI February 2011 level of 112.9 was 4.2 percent above the February 2010 level (Table 7). The index is up 2.2 percent in five years and up 13.4 percent in 10 years (Table 5).

The passenger TSI measures the month-to-month changes in travel conducted in the for-hire passenger transportation sector. The seasonally adjusted index consists of data from air, local transit and intercity rail.

Combined Freight and Passenger Index

The combined freight and passenger TSI fell 1.3 percent in February from its January level (Table 8). The combined TSI February 2011 level of 108.2 was 4.1 percent higher than the February 2010 level (Table 9). The combined index is down 1.6 percent in five years and up 9.1 percent in 10 years despite recent declines (Table 5). The combined TSI merges the freight and passenger indexes into a single index.

More on TSI

NOTE: TSI numbers for October (Freight, Passenger and Combined) were revised because of revisions in the output data of the component transportation services. The October Freight TSI is 105.2, unchanged from the 105.2 reported in last months release. The October Passenger TSI is 114.7, revised from 114.9. The October Combined TSI is 107.7, unchanged from 107.7. The TSI for November, December, January and February are preliminary.

TSI revision policy: TSI is updated monthly with the latest four months index numbers considered preliminary. Each month BTS releases the latest preliminary TSI, and replaces the oldest preliminary TSI with a revised TSI. More information about the monthly revision policy, is available at http://www.bts.gov/xml/tsi/src/index.xml

More information about the comprehensive revision conducted with the March release is provided under 2011 Comprehensive Revision at http://www.bts.gov/xml/tsi/src/index.xml.