ATA: Truck tonnage index up 1.1% in May

The seasonally adjusted index increased 1.8 percent compared to May of 2014, according to the American Trucking Association.    Domestic truck tonnage increased 1.1 percent in May, following a revised decrease of 1.4 percent during the previous month, according to the American Trucking Association’s advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index. ATA had previously reported a 3 percent drop in the index for the month of April.
   The seasonally adjusted index equaled 132.1 in May, a 1.8 percent improvement from May 2014. Through May, year-to-date tonnage was up 3.7 percent compared to the same period the previous year.
   The not seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, was up 0.3 percent from April.
   “The good news is that truck tonnage increased in May,” ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said in a statement from the association. “But tonnage is certainly not strong at the moment as factory output is soft and there is an inventory reduction occurring throughout the supply chain.”
   Costello noted truck tonnage is still down 2.7 percent from the index’s high mark in January.
   “I believe the inventory correction should end this summer and truck freight, helped by better personal consumption, will accelerate, which is good because I think it is unlikely factory output will boost truck tonnage much until later this year or next year,” he added.