On Wednesday, the US Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics' (BTS) Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI) showed that the amount of freight carried by the for-hire transportation industry fell 0.1 percent in June from May, following no change in the index from April to May.
Freight shipments are still up 1.1 percent in the five years from the pre-recession level of June 2007 and up 7.8 percent in the 10 years from June 2002 despite declines in recent years. June 2012 freight shipments rose 1.6 percent from June 2011 and 14.6 percent from June 2009.
The Freight TSI fell 0.2 percent in Q2 for the second consecutive quarterly decline. The index rose in nine of the last 12 quarters.