Truck Tonnage Index Jumped 2.8% in February
The American Trucking Associations’ (ATA) advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index increased 2.8% in February, after plunging 4.5% the previous month.
January’s drop was slightly more than the 4.3% reported on February 19, 2014.
Compared with February 2013, the SA index increased 3.6%. Year-to-date, compared with the same period last year, tonnage is up 2.3%.
The not-seasonally-adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equaled 116.5 in February, which was 4.5% below the previous month (122).
“It is pretty clear that winter weather had a negative impact on truck tonnage during February,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “However, the impact wasn’t as bad as in January because of the backlog in freight due to the number of storms that hit over the January and February period.”
ATA noted that trucking serves as a barometer of the U.S. economy, representing 68.5% of tonnage carried by all modes of domestic freight transportation, including manufactured and retail goods.
Trucks hauled 9.4 billion tons of freight in 2012.
Category: Featured, General Update, Management
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