The American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index fell 0.4% in June after rising 0.4% in May. In June, the index equaled 113 (2015=100), down from 113.4 in May.
ATA revised the May increase from the originally reported 0.7% to 0.4%.
Compared with June 2017, the SA index increased 7.8%, up from May’s 7.4% year-over-year increase. Year-to-date, compared with the first half of last year, tonnage increased 7.9%, far outpacing the annual gain of 3.8% in 2017.
“In the second quarter, we saw the tonnage index jump 1.8% from the previous quarter and 8.4% from a year earlier,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “This robust growth fits with what is likely to be a very strong GDP reading for the second quarter. I expect the growth in tonnage to moderate, but remain at very high levels in the months ahead.”
The not seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equaled 116.3 in June, which was 1.1% below the previous month (117.6).