Friday, June 25, 2010

Small Drop vs. April but May Trucking Increased 7.2% vs. Last Year, 6th Consecutive Annual Gain


ARLINGTON, VA — "The American Trucking Associations’ advance seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index decreased 0.6 percent in May, which was the first month-to-month drop since February of this year. This followed an upwardly revised 1 percent increase in April. The latest reduction put the SA index at 109.6 (see chart above).  Highlights include:

1. Compared with May 2009, SA tonnage increased 7.2 percent, which was the sixth consecutive year-over-year gain. In April, the year-over-year increase was 9.5 percent.

2. Year-to-date, tonnage is up 6.2 percent compared with the same period in 2009.

3. ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said that truck freight tonnage is going to have ups and downs, but the trend continues in the right direction. “Despite the month-to-month drop in May, the trend line is still solid. There is no way that freight can increase every month, and we should expect periodic decreases. This doesn’t take away from the fact that freight volumes are quite good, especially considering the reduction in truck supply over the last couple of years.”

HT: Red Bund

2 Comments:

At 6/25/2010 9:33 PM, Blogger VangelV said...

The comparison with last year is an easy one so the picture is not as optimistic as you may be suggesting. We just saw growth numbers that were lower than expected, a collapse in housing sales, and a problem with tax revenues that would not exist if the economy were healthier. While I am generally an optimist what I see makes it hard to feel positive for the next few months to a year.

 
At 6/26/2010 8:54 AM, Blogger juandos said...

Well locally here in the St. Louis, Mo area the small trucking firms are still either out of business, going out of business, or doing a lot less delivery than two and three years ago...

There are some faint indications since March of this year where businesses might start needing more service...

 

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