Rail and truck freight grew in June, but were offset by decline in other shipments, notably waterborne freight.
Commercial freight fell 0.1% in June from May, following no change in the index from April to May, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics’ (BTS) Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI) released today. The June 2012 index level (109.5) was 16.1% above the April 2009 low during the Great Recession, which might be poised for a sequel.
The trend is little or no growth in the index for Q2 of 2012, continuing a pattern of little change since January. This very likely reflects the slow rate of growth in the general U.S. economy. Gross Domestic Product – the output of goods and services – slowed to 1.5% in the second quarter (Q2 compared to Q1) and a revised 2% in first quarter of 2012, from 3% percent in fourth quarter of 2011, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).
Motor vehicle output added 0.13% to the second-quarter change in real GDP after adding 0.72% to the first-quarter change. Imports are subtracted from GDP data.
Rail and truck freight grew in June, but were offset by decline in other shipments, notably waterborne freight, which BTS speculated may be due to the impact of low water conditions on the Mississippi River system.
Freight shipments in June 2012 (109.5) were at the seventh highest monthly level since the early recession month of July 2008 despite the 3.9% decline from its peak in December 2011 (114.0). That was the highest level in the 22-year history of the Freight TSI series. After dipping to a recent low in April 2009 (94.3) during the Great Recession, freight shipments increased in 24 of the last 38 months, rising 16.1% during that period. For additional historical data, go to http://www.bts.gov/xml/tsi/src/index.xml.
