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June Truck Tonnage Drops 3.4%
Decline Leaves Index at Seven-Month Low
American Trucking Associations’ June for-hire truck tonnage index fell to a seven-month low and was down 3.4% from a year ago, ATA said late Friday.
The downturn followed May’s 3.6% decline from a year earlier, ATA said.
The index’s reading of 110.5 was a notch from May’s 110.6 level. The not seasonally adjusted index fell 3.3% from May, to 114.1.
ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said that while the government reported Friday that the U.S. economy grew at a 3.4% in the second quarter, that strength did not filter into the transport sector.
The tonnage index fell 1.8% during the second quarter from the first quarter and was 3.2% lower than last year’s second quarter, he said.
The so-called “goods” economy slowed in the quarter, and “the housing sector continues to be a bigger drag on motor carriers than the economy at large,” Costello said.
ATA calculates the tonnage each month based on reports by its member trucking companies.