July Truck Tonnage Declined 10.4 Percent

By Juli Morris on August 26, 2009

The American Trucking Associations' (ATS) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index for July 2009 reported a slight rise, the first since February of this year. In July, tonnage decreased 10.4 percent year-over-year, an improvement over the 13.6 drop for June.

ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello expects continued volatility in truck tonnage:

"It is not unusual for an economic indicator to become volatile before changing direction," Costello noted. He is hopeful that truck tonnage has finally hit bottom as it has been bouncing around a seven-year low for the last few months. "While I am optimistic that the worst is behind us, I just don’t see anything on the economic horizon that suggests freight tonnage is about to rise significantly or consistently," Costello said. "Still, even small gains are better than the February 2008 through April 2009 cumulative tonnage reduction of 15.5 percent."

On August 7th, the BLS' preliminary report indicated a loss of 22,400 jobs in the transportation and warehousing industry in July. The sector has now lost 356,000 jobs since employment peaked in December 2007.