ATA: Truck tonnage index rebounds in May

The seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index equaled 139 for the month, up 2.7 percent from April and 5.7 percent compared with May 2015, following declines in each of the previous two months, according to the American Trucking Associations.    Domestic truck tonnage grew 2.7 percent in May 2016 from the previous month, following revised decreases of 1.7 percent during April and 4.4 percent in March, according to the American Trucking Association’s advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index.
   The seasonally adjusted index equaled 139 for the month, up 5.7 percent compared with May 2015, which was also up from April’s 2.4 percent year-over-year gain.
   ATA noted the monthly decreases in April and March came after an all-time high reading for the index of 144 in February. The March decline also represented the largest monthly contraction for the index since September 2012 (-5.3 percent).
   Through the first five months of 2016, tonnage has increased 4 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 138.9 in May, up 2.4 percent from 135.6 the previous month.
   “Following two consecutive decreases totaling 6 percent, May was a nice increase in truck tonnage,” ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said in a statement. “Better consumer spending in April and May certainly helped, but economic growth remains mixed and I’d expect the recent choppy pattern in tonnage to continue for the next quarter or two.
   “We recently received good news on the inventory cycle, with the total business inventory-to-sales ratio declining for the first time in nearly a year,” he added. “While one month doesn’t make a trend, this was good news for the trucking industry.”