WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Department of Transportation said on Wednesday that freight shipments in the United States rose in October and reached all-time high.

The Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI), a measurement of freight carried by the for-hire transportation industry, rose 2 percent to 138.8 in October from previous month, which was "a new all-time high" since the data was collected in the year of 2000, said the department.

Over the year, the October index rose 7.3 percent. The department also noted that the September index was revised up from 134.9 to 136.1.

"The Freight TSI October increase of 2.0 percent was driven by significant growth in trucking and water, while pipeline, air freight, rail carload, and rail intermodal decreased modestly," said the department.

The department said that transportation services have a clear relationship to the economic cycle. The freight component of the TSI, which encompasses five modes of transportation, shows a strong leading relationship to the trend of U.S. economy.

"When the accelerations and decelerations of the freight TSI (the turning points in the detrended series) are compared to the growth cycles of the economy, the freight measure leads by an average of approximately 4 months," said the department.

Besides, the overall TSI consists of the other two components, which were the passenger index and the combined index. According to the department, its passenger TSI rose 1.3 percent in October from the previous month, while the combined TSI increased 1.8 percent. Enditem

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