How does FTR compile the Annual Rate Data Indices?
FTR uses indices to represent the environment of the overall freight transportation market.
1. Because we are looking at a broad mix of markets, understanding the national average of rates on a dollar-basis is not very relevant for our needs. We are trying to understand the upward or downward pressure on the market.
2. Not all of our inputs come to us as raw dollar-delineated data. We are able to better utilize differing datasets by creating indexed data.