According to a report Wednesday from the US Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), the amount of freight carried by the for-hire transportation industry (Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI)) fell 0.2 percent in October from September. October's drop follows increases in the prior four months.
Nevertheless, October 2011 freight shipments rose 4 percent from October 2010 and year-to-date through October 2011, freight shipments measured by the index were up 2.3 percent. Despite October's monthly decline, shipments were still at the second highest level since July 2008, after reaching the highest level in more than three years in September 2011.