Trucks show economy is growing

    The American Trucking Associations’ advance seasonally adjusted for-hire truck tonnage index increased 0.5 percent in October after rising a revised 1.5 percent in September 2011.
    The not-seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equaled 118.5 in October, which was 0.8 percent below the previous month.
    “Tonnage readings continue to show that the economy is growing and not sliding back into recession,” ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said. “Over the last two months, tonnage is up nearly 2 percent and is just shy of the recent high in January of this year.”
    Costello added that he expects freight and the economy to increase at a slower pace next year, but that truck tonnage can outpace GDP growth.
    “Manufacturing output has been the primary reason why truck freight volumes are increasing more than GDP. The industrial sector should slow next year, but still grow more than GDP, which means truck tonnage can increase faster than GDP too,” he said.