For the month of April, the Freight Transportation Services Index fell 1.2 percent from its March level, the lowest level in seven years, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics.


In addition to being the seventh decline in the index in the last nine months, the 1.2 percent drop in the first four months was the second largest in the last decade.

The April level of the Freight TSI of 100.2 is at the lowest level since April 2002 when it was 99.3. The Freight TSI is down 11.4 percent from its historic peak of 113.1 reached in November 2005.

The freight TSI measures the month-to-month changes in the output of services provided by the for-hire freight transportation industries. The index consists of data from for-hire trucking, rail, inland waterways, pipelines and air freight.

The index declined 8.5 percent from April 2008 to April 2009, the largest April-to-April decline in the 20 years for which the TSI is calculated.

Over the last five years ending April, the freight index is down 9.4 percent, marking the fifth month in a row the index declined for a five-year period. April marked the second 10-year decline in the 20-year history. This was down 1.7 percent.

The TSI is a seasonally adjusted index that measures changes from the monthly average of the base year of 2000. It includes historic data from 1990 to the present. Release of the May index is expected July 9.

More info: www.bts.gov/xml/tsi/src/index.xml.