Econintersect: The way the American Trucking Association releases its data, Econintersect cannot do meaningful additional analysis to confirm and add to the trade association’s press release – it’s June 2011 press release stated tonnage increased 2.8% in June after decreasing a revised 2.0% in May 2011.
Compared with June 2010, SA tonnage jumped 6.8%, the largest year-over-year gain since January 2011. In May, the tonnage index was 3% above a year earlier.
“Motor carriers told us that freight was strong in June and that played out in the data as well,” ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said. Tonnage recovered all of the losses in April and May when the index contracted a total of 2.6%.
“After growing 5.5% 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,” Costello noted. “If manufacturing continues to grow stronger than GDP, I fully expect truck freight to do the same.”
Hat tip to Calculated Risk for the following graphic showing the historical index values.
source: ata