The amount of freight carried by the for-hire transportation industry fell 0.8% in March from February, declining after a one-month increase, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics’ (BTS) Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI).
 
March 2012 freight shipments rose 0.8% from March 2011 and 14.1% from March 2009, during the recession, but remain below the level of March 2007 (110.8).
 
Freight shipments in March 2012 (109.4) were at the fourth highest level since the early recession month of July 2008 despite the 3.8% decline from December 2011 (113.7 on the index), which was the highest level in the 22-year history of the series. After dipping to a recent low in April 2009 (94.3) during the recession, freight shipments increased in 23 of the last 35 months, rising 16.0% during that period.

The Freight TSI measures the month-to-month changes in freight shipments by mode of transportation 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 air freight.

Read the full press release from the U.S. Department of Transportation