Truck Tonnage Posts Largest Annual Gain in 13 Years
Truck tonnage rose 5.9% last year over 2010, its biggest annual gain in 13 years, American Trucking Associations said Tuesday.
Tonnage jumped 10.5% in December from a year earlier, the highest year-over-year monthly increase in 13 years, since July 1998, ATA said in its monthly seasonally adjusted for-hire truck tonnage report.
On a month-to-month basis, December tonnage was 6.8% higher than November, following a 0.3% monthly gain.
November’s year-over-year gain was revised up slightly, to 6.1% from an originally reported 6% increase.
The seasonally adjusted index for December came in at a reading of 124.5, up from 116.6 in November. ATA uses the year 2000 as a baseline.
The not seasonally adjusted index, which measures actual tonnage, rose 0.8% to a 116.4 reading.
“While I’m not surprised that tonnage increased in December, I am surprised at the magnitude of the gain,” ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said, noting that it was the largest month-to-month increase since January 2005.
“Not only did truck tonnage increase due to solid manufacturing output in December, but also from some likely inventory restocking,” he said.
“Inventories, especially at the retail level, are exceedingly lean, and I suspect that tonnage was higher than expected as the supply chain did some restocking during the month.” Costello added.
ATA calculates the tonnage each month based on reports by its member trucking companies.
