BTS: May Freight Shipments Down 0.1% on Month, 0.9% Y-o-Y


   
Dawn Gallagher
DTN Energy Reporter

   OAKHURST, N.J. (DTN) --- The Freight Transportation Services Index, which is 
based on the amount of freight carried by the for-hire transportation industry, 
dipped 0.1% to 137.0 in May following no change the prior month, according to 
the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics. 
May for-hire freight shipments declined 0.9% from May 2024.

   The agency reports the April index was revised to 137.2 from 136.3 in last 
month's release.

   The Freight TSI decreased in May due to seasonally adjusted decreases in 
rail intermodal and pipeline while air freight and water increased, and 
trucking and rail carload were unchanged.

   The May decrease occurred in the context of negative results for other 
indicators. The Federal Reserve Board Industrial Production Index was down 0.2% 
in May, reflecting a decrease of 2.9% in utilities while manufacturing and 
mining were each up 0.1%. Housing starts were down 9.8% and Personal Income 
decreased by 0.4%.

   The Institute for Supply Management Manufacturing index in May fell 0.2 
percentage points to 48.5, indicating a contraction. A reading above 50 
indicates an expansion of U.S. manufacturing while a reading below 50 indicates 
a contraction.

   Starting this month, BTS returns to publishing the passenger and combined 
index for the same month as the freight index. The Passenger Index increased 
0.3% in May and 1.7% from the samw month a year earlier. The combined Index was 
unchanged both month-over-month and year-over-year in May 2024.

   BTS began publishing the passenger and combined indexes only through the 
latest month of data available for air passenger travel when BTS released data 
for January 2020--the first month where COVID-19 affected passenger travel. 
Historically, BTS forecasted one month of passenger air travel for the 
passenger index. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted regular seasonal patterns in 
air travel and made it difficult to estimate air travel. Regular seasonal 
patterns in air travel re-emerged, enabling BTS to again accurately estimate 
passenger air travel. BTS estimates air freight and air passenger one month 
ahead of reported day.




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