The American Trucking Associations (ATA) said its for-hire truck tonnage index increased 1.9% in October, following a decrease of 0.7% during September.
Compared with October 2014, the index increased 2%; slightly above the year-over-year increase of 1.6% in September. However, the group stressed that October’s year-over-year gain was well below the year-to-date figure through October, compared to 3% during the same period last year.
“It was good to see tonnage increase nicely in October after contracting a total of 1.6% in August and September,” noted ATA’s Chief Economist Bob Costello in a statement.
However, he stressed that tonnage overall remains “pretty flat” this year, with October’s reading just shy of January’s level.
“Like I’ve said over the last couple of months, I remain concerned about the high level of inventories throughout the supply chain,” Costello pointed out.
“We recently learned that inventories throughout the supply chain and relative to sales rose in September, which is not a good sign,” he emphasized. “This will have a negative impact on truck freight volumes over the next few months.”
