The amount of freight carried by the for-hire transportation industry rose 1 percent in December from November, rising for the second consecutive month, according to the US Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics' (BTS) Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI) released Wednesday.
The Freight TSI measures the month-to-month changes in freight shipments by mode of transportation in tons and ton-miles, which are 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.
Freight shipments measured by the index were down 3.5 percent and the end of 2012 compared to the end of 2011, the first such decline since 2008 after three years of increases.
December 2012 freight shipments were down 3.5 percent from December 2011, but rose 10.6 percent from December 2008 during the recession. The Freight TSI rose 0.7 percent in Q4 following a 0.6 percent fall in Q3 (revised from no change) and a 0.3 percent rise in Q2. The index increased in 11 of the last 14 quarters.