TRANSPORT STATISTICS * USA - Freight Index Reports Shipments Up 6.9 Percent

Bridgeton,MO,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by William B. Cassidy -Apr 6, 2011: -- Freight shipments jumped 6.9 percent in March, with tonnage increasing across transportation modes, according to the Cass Freight Index... Year-over-year, freight shipment volume rose 13.8 percent in March, according to the monthly index of freight spending and shipping activity...  The gain in March was the first sizeable monthly rise in shipment volume tracked by the Cass index since last August. Shipments rose 2.6 percent in February...  Freight spending by shippers rose 6.3 percent in March, on the heels of a 12.5 percent increase in February. Year-over-year, freight payments rose 33.6 percent... 

* Index Shows Tighter Truck Capacity. Increase reverses March decline as shipping activity builds

Independence,OH,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by William B. Cassidy -Apr 7, 2011: -- The Longbow Research Truckload Barometer shot up 5.9 percent, indicating truckload capacity tightened in early April as freight demand increased... A key measure of truckload capacity shot up 5.9 percent, or 9.1 points, indicating that truckload capacity tightened in the first week of April as freight demand increased... The Longbow Research Truckload Barometer rose to 164.2 from 155.1, reversing a 5.7 percent drop in the index in the month of March... Since January, the index has risen 49.4 percent. The index measures available freight against available equipment, climbing as capacity contracts... Year-over-year, the barometer is up 51.7 percent, Longbow said April 7... Strong produce demand in the Southeast and improvements in manufacturing and retailing are constricting the availability of tractor-trailers, Longbow said...