Today’s Pickup: Truck tonnage drops in September

Good day,

The American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index dropped slightly in September, falling 0.9%. ATA also revised its August Index down to a 4.7% gain from a reported 7.4% increase.

In September, the index equaled 144.4 (2000=100), down from 145.7 in August.

Compared with September 2016, the SA index surged 7.4%. In August, the index increased 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. Year-to-date, compared with the same nine months in 2016, the index is up 2.4%.

The not seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equaled 145.3 in September, which was 5% below the previous month (152.9).

 “Tonnage gave back some of the solid gain in August, but remains at very high levels despite the weather-related issues during the month,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “Going forward, rebuilding from those hurricanes and other natural disasters like the wildfires in California will add to freight demand.

 “September’s small setback doesn’t worry me. Freight has been improving and I would have thought tonnage last month would have been softer than it was,” he said.

Did you know?

 UPS driver Tom Camp has passed 1 million miles and 55 years without an accident.

Quotable:

“You need to assume other drivers are not as aware as you are. If you assume the other guy is daydreaming, that’s a good first step.”

– Tom Camp, UPS driver, on how he has amassed 55 years of driving without an accident

In other news:

FMCSA grants another ELD exemption

FMCSA is now going to allow drivers who use a mobile device for ELD compliance to edit their duty status while they are away from their vehicles. (LandLine)

Futuristic offers fleets advice on rethinking their business

Futurist Chunka Mui gave an audience of fleet executives advice on how to transition their business to future technologies. (Fleet Owner)

Ports face container shortages

As imports increase, ports are busier, but they are also facing a shortage of containers. (Supply Chain Dive)

Logisitics technology provider adds package-level tracking

Roambee Corp. has added tracking tags that can be added to packages to its portfolio of solutions. (DC Velocity)

Trump adviser suggests gas tax hike

National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn has suggested that a gas tax hike might be a way to fund infrastructure. (Transport Topics)

Final Thoughts

Congratulations to Tom Camp, a UPS driver who has now achieved 55 years of driving without an accident. He is one of over 9,000 UPS drivers who have passed 25 years without an accident.  

Hammer down everyone!