DOT Freight Index Hits 38-Month High

Freight volumes carried by the for-hire transportation industry were up 0.9 percent in September from the previous month and reached their highest point since July 2008, the Transportation Department reported.

The index rose 0.4 percent month-to-month in August, hitting a three-year high in August.

The DOT’s Freight Transportation Services Index measures the month-to-month changes in freight shipments in ton-miles. It covers data from trucking, rail, inland waterways, pipelines and air freight.
Through the first nine months of the year, the index was up 2.5 percent. The index was up 1.2 percent in the third quarter, its eighth gain in the last nine quarters.

-- Contact Joseph Bonney at jbonney@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter @josephbonney.