DOT says Freight Index Up 0.4% in July from June Reading

    

   OAKHURST, N.J. (DTN) --- The Freight Transportation Services Index edged up 
0.4 percent in July from the June level, rising for the second consecutive 
month, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation 
Statistics reported today.

   At 98.2, the July freight TSI is a 5.0 percent increase from the recent low 
of 93.5 reached in May 2009. Still, the freight TSI is down a sharp 13.0 
percent from its historic peak of 112.9 reached in May 2006.

   According to the BTS, the freight TSI has risen 5.0 percent over the last 14 
months, starting in June 2009 after sliding 15.3 percent in the previous 10 
months beginning in August 2008. The index has increased in 11 of the last 14 
months.

   For the first seven months of 2010, the index has declined 1.3 percent.

   The freight TSI is a measure of the month-to-month changes in the output of 
services provided by the for-hire transportation industries. The TSI shows 
whether the output of transportation services has increased or decreased from 
month to month. Transportation services include data from for-hire trucking, 
rail, inland waterways, pipelines and air freight and account for a big part of 
the nation's economy.

   The movement of the index over time can be compared with other economic 
measures to understand the relationship of changes in transportation output to 
changes in Gross Domestic Product.

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