National trucking sector gains continue

Trucking industry watchers continue to be optimistic about improving conditions in a sector that is considered a bellwether of the national economy.

The American Trucking Associations’ For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index decreased 0.5% in February, following a revised 1.9% increase in January. The latest drop put the SA index at 108.5 (2000=100), down from 109.1 in January.

Compared with February 2009, seasonally-adjust tonnage increased 2.6%, which was the third consecutive year-over-year gain. For the first two months of 2010, tonnage was up 3.5% compared with the same period last year. For all of 2009, the tonnage index contracted 8.7%, which was the largest annual decrease since 1982.

ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said the February tonnage report obviously includes the severe winter storms that reduced truck freight movements, especially on the East Coast. Costello said anecdotal reports continue to point to sector gains despite the slight downturn in February.

“I continue to hear from motor carriers that both the demand and supply situations are steadily improving,” Costello said in an ATA statement. “Certainly it will take a while to make up the ground lost during the recession, but the industry is on the path to recovery.”

Costello noted Thursday during a CNBC interview that part of the gain comes from broader economic improvements and some of the freight gains come from replenishment of historically low manufacturing and retail inventory levels. He said

“This industry got pummeled during the recession,” Costello said during the interview with CNBC, with “freight volumes falling a total of 25 percent. The good news is though [freight volumes] are starting to pick a little bit [and ATA] is cautiously optimistic” about the economy.”

He added that steel shipments are up, but shipping related to construction “is still awful.”

According to the ATA, trucking serves as a barometer of the U.S. economy, representing nearly 69% of tonnage carried in 2008 by all modes of domestic freight transportation, including manufactured and retail goods.

The trucking sector is important to the Arkansas economy. Arkansas and Nebraska are tops in the country in in terms of percentage of total state employment being in the trucking sector, according to the ATA trends. In Arkansas, 3.7% of all people employed in the private sector worked for a trucking company, with 3.6% for Nebraska. California and Texas have the most people working in the trucking industry in terms of total numbers.