Freight index rises in March

For-hire freight transported in March increased 1.9 percent from February to the highest level since July 2008, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported May 11.

The March increase followed a decline in February and was 4.8 percent higher than in March 2010.

BTS reported that shipments measured by the Freight Transportation Services Index have increased in 17 of the last 23 months.

For the first three months of 2011, freight shipments measured by the index were up 1.3 percent following a 2.1 percent increase during the final three months of 2010.

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.

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