The number of North American freight shipments and the amount of expenditures both posted strong increases in February from the month before, according to newly released Cass Freight Index figures.
The 8.3% jump in the shipments index to 1.055 from a revised January reading of 0.974 erases the previous month’s decline. Despite this, February is 2.6% lower than the same month a year earlier, but the year-over-year results are better than January’s 5.2%.
The recent four-month slide in freight traffic put the starting point for 2016 significantly lower than in the last several years, according to Rosalyn Wilson, supply chain industry analyst and founder and president of the consulting practice FreightMatters, who provides analysis for the report.