ATA: Truck tonnage snaps growth streak in February

The American Trucking Associations’ (ATA) seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index slipped 2.6 percent compared with the previous month, but remained 5.7 percent higher than in February 2017.    Domestic truck tonnage snapped its sequential growth streak in February 2018, sliding 2.6 percent from the previous month, but rose 5.7 percent year-over-year, according to the American Trucking Associations’ (ATA) advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index.
   The index equaled 111.6 in February, down from a reading of 112.1 in January. ATA noted it has recently revised the seasonally adjusted index back five years as part of its annual revision, and re-indexed the seasonally adjusted and not seasonally adjusted tonnage indexes to 2015 = 100 back to 1973.
   The 5.7 percent year-over-year growth during the month was also outpaced by January’s 8.4 percent year-over-year gain, but was still well above the 3.8 percent increase seen over the course of the full year in 2017.
   Through the first two months of 2018, truck tonnage increased 7.1 percent compared with the same 2017 period, according to the ATA.
   The association’s not seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equaled 99.7 in February, down 6.7 percent from the previous month’s reading of 106.8.
   “Despite a softer February than January, freight remains robust as exhibited in the year-over-year increase,” ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said in a statement. “The drivers of truck freight – personal consumption, factory output and construction – are good, plus the inventory cycle is in favor of motor carriers, so I expect freight tonnage to grow at a decent pace in the months ahead.”