ATA: Truck tonnage index slips below 2015 levels in September

The seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index equaled 132.7 for the month, down 5.8 percent from August and 0.7 percent compared with September 2015, the first year-over-year decline of 2016, according to American Trucking Associations.    Domestic truck tonnage fell 5.8 percent in September 2016 from the previous month, following a revised increase of 5 percent during August, according to the American Trucking Associations’ (ATA) advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index.
   The seasonally adjusted index equaled 132.7 for the month, down 0.7 percent compared with September 2015, the first year-over-year decline since October 2015. ATA noted the all-time high index reading was 144 in February.
   Through the first nine months of the year, tonnage increased 3 percent compared with the same 2015 period.
   The not seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage hauled by fleets prior to any seasonal adjustment, equaled 136.4 in September, down 5.1 percent from 143.8 the previous month.
   “Volatility this year continued again in September with the large drop after a significant increase in August,” ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said in a statement. “The changes we’re seeing in typical seasonal trends are making it difficult to discern any real or clear trend in truck tonnage.
   “Adjusting for the larger ups and downs this year, as well as talking with many fleets, I currently see a softer than normal freight environment, which is likely to continue until the inventory correction is complete,” he added. “Looking ahead, the slow growth economic environment does not suggest that significantly stronger truck tonnage numbers are in the near term either.”