The amount of freight carried by the for-hire transportation industry fell 0.2 percent in October from September, the first monthly decrease after four consecutive increases, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Freight Transportation Services Index released Dec. 14.
DOT reported the Freight TSI declined slightly from the recent peak achieved in September, but still remained higher than any other month since July 2008. The index is 4 percent higher than in October 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.
For the first 10 months of the year, freight shipments measured by the index were up 2.3 percent.