Trucking index reports ‘robust tonnage’ in December

A positive sign for the still struggling national economy is that the American Trucking Associations’ reports that December marks the second consecutive month of an uptick in its national trucking index.

The ATA seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index climbed 2.1% in December, following a 2.6% increase in November. The latest gain boosted the SA index from 106.2 (2000=100) in November to 108.4 in December, its highest level since November 2008.
 
Compared with December 2008, SA tonnage jumped 6.6%, which was the first year-over-year increase since September 2008.

Despite the potential beginning of a positive trend in late 2009, the year was again a tough year for the trucking sector. For all of 2009, the tonnage index was down 8.3%, which was the largest annual decrease since a 12.3% plunge in 1982.

“The robust tonnage numbers in November and December were aided by better economic growth as well as a positive inventory effect,” ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello noted in a statement. “However, economic activity is expected to moderate in the current quarter, which will keep a lid on tonnage growth.”

According to the ATA, trucking serves as a barometer of the U.S. economy, representing nearly 70 percent of tonnage carried by all modes of domestic freight transportation, including manufactured and retail goods.

Costello said the percentage gains are also generated by comparisons with significant tonnage declines in 2008. The industry is seeing movement in the right direction, but it’s a slow track.

“There is no doubt that the industry is moving the right direction, but the level of freight will not be as strong as the year-over-year increases suggest because of how terrible it was in late 2008 and much of 2009,” Costello advised.

With jobs from the corporate headquarters operations of Fort Smith-based Arkansas Best Corp. and Van Buren-based USA Truck Inc., the trucking sector is important to the Fort Smith regional economy.

Arkansas Best, which operates ABF Freight System, a national less-than-truckload carrier, and USA Truck, a national truckload carrier, are set to report fourth quarter 2009 earnings Jan. 28. Arkansas Best has lost $50.17 million in the past four quarters. USA Truck has lost $1.13 million in the past four quarters.