The amount of freight carried by the for-hire transportation industry rose 0.9 percent in September from August, reaching the highest level since July 2008, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Freight Transportation Services Index released Nov. 9.
DOT reported freight shipments, measured by the Freight TSI, rose 4.2 percent in the last four months. September’s index was 4.3 percent higher than a year earlier.
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 nine months of the year, freight shipments measured by the index were up 2.5 percent.
