Freight TSI is mixed to begin 2021, reports Bureau of Transportation Statistics

The United States Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) recently reported that its Freight Transportation Services Index (Freight TSI) saw a sequential gain and an annual decrease, for the month of January, the most recent month for which data is available.

According to BTS officials, the Freight TSI measures the month-to-month changes in freight shipments in ton-miles, which are then 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 airfreight.

The January reading—at 136.1—was up 1.1% over December and down 0.2% compared to January 2020. The January reading is 3.8% below the all-time high of 141.5 recorded in August 2019 and 43.4% above the April 2009 low of 94.9.

BTS officials said that the January reading headed up, due to seasonally-adjusted increases in truck tonnage, rail intermodal and rail carload, and waterborne, while citing declines in pipeline and air freight. And it added that the increase came against the backdrop of mixed results in other indicators, including the ISM manufacturing index and the Federal Reserve Board Industrial Production Index, among others.

BTS also noted the 1.1% December to January gain came on the heels of a 1.5% increase, from November to December, and it is above any level going back to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 through December. What’s more, the Freight TSI has fallen in 9 of the last 17 months, through December, going back to its peak August 2019 reading.

On a longer-term scale, BTS reported that for-hire freight shipments are up 11.3% going back to January 2016 and are up 23.6% going back to January 2011.