Shipment Index Slides 22 Percent

A key measure of industrial shipping in the United States showed shipments declined 22 percent in March from the same month a year ago, suggesting retailers and manufacturers were retrenching still more at the end of a grim first quarter.

The Cass Freight Index for shipments also declined 3.5 percent from February to March, a setback after the closely watched index showed its first month-to-month increase in six months in February.

Freight transportation spending also turned negative after a slim month-to-month gain. The measure of expenditures fell 2.1 percent from February to March and was down a record 23.8 percent compared to March 2008.

The March drop in the shipment index defied usual seasonal trends that see shipping generally pick up toward the end of the first quarter in anticipation of a bump in spring retail sales.

Instead, the index for shipments produced by St. Louis-based freight payment company Cass Information Systems dipped from 0.938 to 0.905 in March, the third-worst reading reported since 1992. The two lowest readings since then came in December 2008 and January 2009.

The slide in freight expenditures to 1.475 came as energy prices fell sharply and carriers across several transportation modes, from ocean to trucks, reported steep declines in spot market rates.