Truck Tonnage Rises 1.2%; Growth Held Back by Weather
Truck tonnage rose 1.2% in January, held back by a series of nationwide winter storms, American Trucking Associations announced.
The impact of the storms was illustrated by the 4.3% drop from December, the largest sequential decline in two years. The advance seasonally adjusted index reading last month was 124.4.
“Like most economic indicators, truck tonnage was negatively impacted by bad winter weather in January,” ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said in a Feb. 19 announcement. “January wasn’t just one storm, it was several across a large part of the country.”
Costello also said that the underlying January freight level was difficult to gauge, based on carrier comments.
“I’ve heard from many fleets that freight was good in between storms,” he said. “The fundamentals for truck freight still look good.”
The sequential decline was far steeper than the 0.8% drop in December from the all-time record of 131.0 in November of last year.
Costello also said it will be difficult for fleets to make up for storm-related delays.
“Drivers are governed by hours-of-service regulations, and trucks are limited to trailer lengths and total weights. Thus it is nearly impossible to recoup the days lost due to bad storms,” he said.
