ATA: Truck tonnage index comes back down in June

The seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index equaled 137.2 for the month, down 1.5 percent from May but up 2.1 percent compared with June 2015, following a 2.9 percent increase the previous month, according to the American Trucking Associations.    Domestic truck tonnage fell 1.5 percent in June 2016 from the previous month, following a revised increase of 2.9 percent during May, according to the American Trucking Association’s (ATA) advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index.
   The seasonally adjusted index equaled 137.2 for the month, up 2.1 percent compared with June 2015, which was still down from May’s 5.9 percent year-over-year gain.
   Through the first six months of 2016, tonnage has increased 3.7 percent compared with the same 2015 period. ATA noted that excluding strong year-over-year growth in February, tonnage is up just 2.7 percent from the first half last year.
  The not seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage hauled by fleets prior to any seasonal adjustment, equaled 142.2 in June, up 2.2 percent from 139.1 the previous month.
   “The seesaw pattern continued again in June with tonnage falling after a good rise in May,” ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said in a statement. “On a month-to-month basis, tonnage has been down in three of the last four months, totaling 4.7 percent since February.
   “Looking ahead, I expect the freight environment will remain choppy,” he added. “The good news for trucking is we are the most diverse mode of all freight transportation sectors between industrial and consumer freight. We are currently benefiting from the consumer side while being hurt on the industrial side. And of course we still have the inventory glut that is weighing down tonnage.”