The Freight Transportation Services Index declined 0.5 percent in September from its August level, declining after three consecutive monthly increases, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported.

At 95.7 in September, the freight TSI is the lowest for the month since September 1996. The current TSI is a 2.3 percent increase from the recent low of 93.5 reach in May, which marked the lowest level in more than a decade since June 1997. The freight TSI is down 15.2 percent from its historic peak of 112.9 reached in May 2006.

The 9.9 percent decline in the freight TSI from September 2008 to the month reviewed was the largest September-to-September decline in the 20 years for which the TSI is calculated.

According to the BTS, the 4.6 percent decline in the first nine months of 2009 was the largest for the January-to-September period since a 5.9 percent decline for the first nine months of 2000.

The freight TSI is a measure of the month-to-month changes in the output of services provided by the for-hire transportation industries. The TSI shows whether the output of transportation services has increased or decreased from month to month. Transportation services include data from for-hire trucking, rail, inland waterways, pipelines and air freight.