ATA: Seasonally adjusted truck tonnage index up 1.2 percent in January

According to the American Trucking Association, the index increased 6.6 percent compared to January of 2014.    Domestic truck tonnage increased 1.2% in January, following a revised gain of 0.1 percent in December, according to the American Trucking Association’s advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index. ATA had previously reported no gain in the index for the month of December.
   The seasonally adjusted index increased 6.6 percent compared to January of 2014, and the increase represents an all time high for the index, currently at 135.7 (2000=100).
   The not seasonally adjusted index, however, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, was down 3.5 percent from December 2014.
   For the full year 2014, tonnage was up 3.7 percent, slightly better than the 3.5 percent originally reported by the ATA.
   “Truck tonnage continued to improve in January, marking the fourth straight gain totaling 3.5%,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello in a statement from the association. “Last year was slightly better for truck tonnage than we originally thought and I am expecting that momentum to continue in 2015.”
   Costello added tonnage is up 6.7 percent since “bottoming out” in March 2014.