Freight index continues streak of setting new record high

The Transportation Services Index, which measures freight movement in tons and ton-miles, shows freight transportation reaching another all-time high in December, including a modest increase in trucking.

Trucking freight jumped forward for a sixth consecutive month, increasing from 148.3 to 149, an increase of less than 1 percent. Numbers from the American Trucking Associations reveal a tonnage decrease of 6.2 percent from 142.7 in November to 133.8 in December. American Trucking Associations calculates the tonnage index based on surveys of its membership.

According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics of the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Transportation Services Index for December rose 0.7 percent to 132. In November, the index increased by 0.2 percent, replacing an all-time high set in October, which replaced an all-time high in September.

The December index was 39.4 percent above the low that was set during the recession in April 2009. TSI records began in 2000.

According to the DOT, the TSI’s upward movement coincides with growth in the Federal Reserve Board Industrial Production Index, employment and personal income. Manufacturing and mining also increased. Housing starts decreased by 8.2 percent.