Truck Tonnage Rises Again, Gaining 5.7% in January
U.S. truck tonnage rose 5.7% in January from the same month last year, the second straight year-over-year increase following more than a year of comparable declines, American Trucking Associations said.
ATA’s seasonally adjusted for-hire truck tonnage index rose 3.1% in January from December, following a 2.1% gain in December from November, the group said late Wednesday.
The year-to-year gain in December had been 6.6%. January’s year-to-year gain was the best such reading for the month of January since 2004-2005.
For 2009, the tonnage index was down 8.7%, slightly larger than a previously reported 8.3% drop. The decline was the biggest since a 12.3% plunge in 1982.
ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said that the latest tonnage reading, coupled with anecdotal reports from carriers, indicates that both the industry and the economy are clearly in a recovery mode.
“While I don’t expect tonnage to continue growing as robustly as it did in January, the industry is finally moving in the right direction,” Costello said.
“Although there are still risks that could throw the rebound off track, the likelihood of that happening continues to diminish,” he said in a statement.
ATA, which calculates the tonnage each month based on reports by its member trucking companies, also said it had recently revised the seasonally adjusted index back five years as part of its annual revision.
