Mark Szakonyi, Associate Editor | Jun 15, 2012 1:15PM EDT
U.S. freight shipments rose 0.2 percent in April from a month earlier and 2.3 percent year-over-year, suggesting the slowdown of economic growth since January is continuing, the Transportation Department said.
The DOT’s Freight Transportation Services Index registered 111.7. Its December reading was 113.7, the highest since the index began in 1990. The index hit a recession low of 93.4 in April 2009.
Despite the 3.9 percent volume decline from December, freight shipments in April were at the highest level since July 2008 when the recession began. The seasonally adjusted index measures the month-to-month changes in for-hire trucking, rail, inland waterway, pipeline and air freight shipments.
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