June Truck Tonnage Jumps 6.8%
The increase followed a revised 3% year-over-year gain in May, ATA said in its monthly seasonally adjusted for-hire truck tonnage report. The gain was originally reported as a 2.7% increase.
Month-to-month, the index rose 2.8% in June, following a revised 2% decline in May that was originally reported as a 2.3% drop. Not seasonally adjusted tonnage rose 5.3% from May, ATA said.
The index came in at a reading of 115.8, up from 112.6 in May, with the year 2000 as a baseline reading of 100.
ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said tonnage recovered all of its losses from April and May after a strong showing in June.
“After growing 5.5% in the first half of the year from the same period last year, the strength of truck tonnage in the second half will depend greatly on what manufacturing output does,” he said. “If manufacturing continues to grow stronger than GDP, I fully expect truck freight to do the same.”
ATA calculates the tonnage each month based on reports by its member trucking companies.
