May Truck Tonnage Rises 2.7%
Truck tonnage climbed 2.7% in May from a year ago, the smallest year-over-year gain since February 2010, American Trucking Associations said Monday.
The increase followed a 4.8% year-over-year gain in April, ATA said in its monthly seasonally adjusted for-hire truck tonnage report. The April increase was not revised.
Month-to-month, the index fell 2.3% in May, following a revised 0.6% decrease in April that was originally reported as a 0.7% decline. Not seasonally adjusted tonnage rose 2% from April, ATA said.
The index came in at a reading of 112.3, down from 114.9 in April, with the year 2000 as a baseline reading of 100.
ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said tonnage numbers over the last four months show the economy “definitely hit a soft patch this spring.
“With our index falling in three of the last four months totaling 3.7%, it is clear why there is some renewed anxiety over the economic recovery,” he said in a statement.
Even so, Costello said he is cautiously optimistic that freight volumes and economic activity will improve in the second half of the year.
“With oil prices falling and some of the Japan-related auto supply problems ending, I believe this was a soft patch and not a slide back into recession, and we should see better, but not great, economic activity in the months ahead,” he said.
ATA calculates the tonnage each month based on reports by its member trucking companies.
