Cass Freight Index

A Measure of North American Freight Volumes

Since 1990, the Cass Freight Index™ has been a trusted measure of North American freight volumes and expenditures. Data within the Index includes all domestic freight modes and is derived from $22 billion in freight transactions processed by Cass annually on behalf of its client base of 350 large shippers. These companies represent a broad sampling of industries including consumer packaged goods, food, automotive, chemical, OEM, retail and heavy equipment. Annual freight volume per organization ranges from $1 million to over $1 billion. The diversity of shippers and aggregate volume provide a statistically valid representation of North American shipping activity.

View the April 2013 Report.

View data points from 1999-present.

Subscribe to the Freight Index.

How the Index Works

The Cass Freight Index uses January 1990 as its base month. The index is updated with monthly freight expenditures and shipment volumes from the entire Cass client base. Volumes represent the month in which transactions are processed by Cass, not necessarily the month when the corresponding shipments took place. The January 1990 base point is 1.00. The Index point for each subsequent month represents that month’s volume in relation to the January 1990 baseline.

Each month’s volumes are adjusted to provide an average 21-day work month. Adjustments also are made to compensate for business additions/deletions to the volume figures. These adjustments help normalize the data to provide a sound basis for ongoing monthly comparison. 

Other Transportation Indexes from Cass

Cass also furnishes linehaul cost indexes for both truckload and intermodal freight. View the Cass Truckload Linehaul Index™ or the Cass Intermodal Linehaul Index™.

 
Contact:
Frank Cirimele
314-506-5882
fcirimele@cassinfo.com