The U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported Oct. 15 that while its overall freight transportation services index (TSI) dipped 0.1% in August from July, trucking activity had increased.
BTS said the seasonally adjusted truck tonnage index was 115 for August, up from 114.2 in July and 114.5 in August 2024. That is the highest level since July 2023.
The trucking index has remained in a narrow range after falling as low as 106.5 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in April 2020. The index uses a reading of 100, based on the 2015 calendar year, as its baseline.
In looking at the larger freight TSI index, BTS said the August reading was 138.9, down just slightly from a revised reading of 139 in July. The freight TSI measures month-to-month changes in freight shipments by for-hire transportation industries. It includes trucking, rail services including intermodal shipments, inland waterways transportation, pipeline transportation, and air freight.
It reached a high of 139.4 in February 2023, and uses an average reading of 100 from the year 2000 as a baseline. BTS is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Separately, the Cass freight index, found the freight market experienced a small uptick in September, primarily driven by truckload volumes.
At the same time, less-than-truckload volumes declined, which the report said likely reflects the ongoing available truckload capacity. Additionally, Cass said the TL increase may be temporary and related to pre-tariff shipping.
For September, Cass’ shipments index jumped 2.5% from August. The seasonally adjusted index was up 1.5%. “While demand trends are mixed and the outlook remains cloudy, capacity continues to contract, which provides some guarded optimism looking ahead,” the report said.
The index includes all domestic freight modes and is derived from $36 billion in spend processed by Cass annually on behalf of shippers.
