Truck Tonnage Rises 5.7% in October
Truck tonnage rose 5.7% in October from a year ago, the 23rd consecutive month of year-over-year growth, American Trucking Associations said Tuesday.
The increase follows a revised 5.8% year-to-year gain in September that was slightly below the 5.9% upturn originally reported.
On a monthly basis, October’s tonnage rose 0.5% from September, ATA said in its monthly seasonally adjusted for-hire truck tonnage report.
That followed a revised 1.5% month-to-month gain in September that had originally been reported as a 1.6% gain.
The seasonally adjusted index for October came in at a reading of 116.3, up from 115.8 in September.
The not seasonally adjusted index, which measures actual tonnage, slipped 0.8% to a reading of 118.5.
“Tonnage readings continue to show that economy is growing and not sliding back into recession,” said Bob Costello, ATA’s chief economist.
“Over the last two months, tonnage is up nearly 2% and is just shy of the recent high in January of this year,” he said in a statement.
Costello added that he expects freight and the economy to increase at a slower pace next year, but that truck tonnage can outpace gross domestic product growth.
“Manufacturing output has been the primary reason why truck freight volumes are increasing more than GDP,” Costello added. “The industrial sector should slow next year, but still grow more than GDP, which means truck tonnage can increase faster than GDP too.”
Third-quarter GDP rose at an annual rate of 2%, down from an initial estimate of 2.5%, the Labor Department said Tuesday.
ATA calculates the tonnage each month based on reports by its member trucking companies.
