US truck tonnage drops slightly, but trend still ‘solid’

WASHINGTON — The American Trucking Associations‘ advance seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Index dropped for the first time in months, but is still up 7.2 percent from May 2009, the sixth consecutive year-over-year gain.

Tonnage fell 0.6 percent in May, the first month-to-month drop since February.

"Despite the month-to-month drop in May, the trend line is still solid," said Bob Costello, chief economist of ATA. "There is no way that freight can increase every month, and we should expect periodic decreases. This doesn’t take away from the fact that freight volumes are quite good, especially considering the reduction in truck supply over the last couple of years."

The not seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equaled 108.3 in May, down 2.8 percent from the previous month.