Truck Tonnage Jumps 3.7% in July, Hits Second Best-Level Ever
Truck tonnage rose 3.7% last month on a year-over-year basis, rebounding to the second-highest level ever with help from improved retail sales, housing starts and factory output, American Trucking Associations reported.
The trade federation's advanced seasonally adjusted index jumped to 135.0 from 131.3, the revised reading for June. On a month-to-month basis, the index jumped 2.8%, the biggest sequential increase since November 2013, pushing the index close to the record 135.8 set in January.
The increase also was a sharp shift from May and June, when tonnage on a year-to-year basis rose less than 2 percentage points, the slowest growth pace in more than two years.
“After several soft months starting in February, tonnage really snapped back in July,” ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said. “I remain concerned in the near term about the high level of inventories throughout the supply chain. This could have a negative impact on truck freight volumes over the next few months.”
Government reports earlier this month gauged retail sales growth of 2.4% over last year and a 0.8% rise in factory output. The growth was achieved amid surging auto sales that reached a seasonally adjusted pace of 17.55 million in July. However, a closely watched ratio of inventory to sales stands at the highest level in more than six years.
Over the first seven months of 2015, tonnage rose 3.4% over the same period last year, ATA reported.
The trade group also reported tonnage on a not seasonally adjusted basis, which shows actual tonnage moved. That index was 137.3 in July, down 0.8% from June’s 138.4 total.
