ATA reduces truck tonnage index

The American Trucking Association (ATA) recently reduced its For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index by 0.9 percent to make its advanced seasonal adjustment.

The index was previously increased by 1.8 percent in October. This amount has been revised for accuracy.

The index amounted to 134.3 (2000=100) for the month of November. This is a decrease from the initial 135.5 figure for the month of October. This figure also shows that the index is 1.1 percent beneath the record high, which amounted to 135.8 percent, from Jan. 2015.

The current SA index shows a rise of 0.2 percent when compared to November of last year. This is the smallest year-over-year increase that has occurred since Feb. 2013.

“Tonnage gave back half of the gain in October highlighting weakness in factory output and new fracking activity as well as a glut of inventories throughout the supply chain,” Bob Costello, ATA chief economist, said. “With year-over-year gains averaging just 1.2 percent over the last three months, there has been a clear deceleration in truck tonnage. Looking ahead, I remain concerned about the high level of inventories throughout the supply chain. We recently learned that inventories throughout the supply chain and relative to sales rose in October. This will have a negative impact on truck freight volumes over the next few months.”