"Freight"June Truck Tonnage Jumps 6.8%

June Truck Tonnage Jumps 6.8%
Transport Topics

Truck tonnage jumped 6.8 percent in June from a year ago, the largest year-over-year gain since an 8 percent surge in January, American Trucking Associations said July 26.

The increase followed a revised 3 percent year-over-year gain in May, ATA said in its monthly seasonally adjusted for-hire truck tonnage report. The gain was originally reported as a 2.7 percent increase.

Month-to-month, the index rose 2.8 percent in June, following a revised 2 percent decline in May that was originally reported as a 2.3 percent drop. Not seasonally adjusted tonnage rose 5.3 percent from May, ATA said.

The index came in at a reading of 115.8, up from 112.6 in May, with the year 2000 as a baseline reading of 100.

ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said tonnage recovered all of its losses from April and May after a strong showing in June.

“After growing 5.5 percent in the first half of the year from the same period last year, the strength of truck tonnage in the second half will depend greatly on what manufacturing output does,” he said. “If manufacturing continues to grow stronger than GDP, I fully expect truck freight to do the same.”

ATA calculates the tonnage each month based on reports by its member trucking companies.