April Truck Tonnage Growth Slows to 1% Year-Over-Year
Truck tonnage growth slowed to the lowest level in more than two years in April, gaining 1% over the same month last year, American Trucking Associations reported.
ATA’s seasonally adjusted for-hire trucking index reading was 128.6, the lowest level since April 2014, the trade group reported May 19.
The index’s all-time high reading was 135.8, set in January of this year. ATA uses the year 2000 as a baseline 100 reading for its tonnage index.
“Like most economic indicators, truck tonnage was soft in April,” ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said. “Unless tonnage snaps back in May and June, [gross domestic product] growth will likely be suppressed in the second quarter.”
According to @ATAEconBob - truck tonnage softened in April, falling 3% from May. http://t.co/9inO5E0Tpo pic.twitter.com/QNImq4NTTm — American Trucking (@TRUCKINGdotORG) May 19, 2015
The tonnage index saw its smallest year-over-year gain since February 2013, and Costello noted that truck tonnage is off 5.3% from its record-high level in January.
“The next couple of months will be telling for both truck freight and the broader economy,” he said. “Any significant jump from the first quarter is looking more doubtful.”
The April reading was down 3% month-to-month from March. The March year-over-year gain was revised down to 4.2% from an originally reported 5% increase, and its originally reported 133.5 reading was revised down to 132.6.
The not-seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by fleets before seasonal adjustments, was 130.6 in April, which was 5.9% below March.
