American trucking tonnage increases
The American Trucking Association's advance seasonally adjusted truck tonnage index rose for the first time since February, gaining 3.2% in May.
May’s increase, which raised the index to 102.3, wasn’t large enough to offset the March to April cumulative reduction of 6.7%.
Compared with May 2008, tonnage contracted 11%, which was the best year-over-year result in three months.
ATA said that despite the improvement from April’s 13.2% plunge, May’s decrease is still historically large.
The not seasonally adjusted (NSA) index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equalled 102 in May, up 0.4% from April.
ATA chief economist Bob Costello said the month-to-month improvement was encouraging.
He said he didn’t expect tonnage to deteriorate much further cautioned that any growth in tonnage over the next few months is likely to be modest.
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