Another good report for the national trucking industry

March continued a four-month positive trend in the American Trucking Associations’ Index which points to recovery in a bellwether sector for the national economy.

The ATA report for March shows seasonally-adjusted for-hire truck tonnage increased 0.4% following a revised 0.3% dip in February. The March report puts the seasonally-adjusted index at 109.2, the highest point since November 2008. The not seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equaled 116.4 in March, up 19.1% from the previous month.
 
Compared with March 2009, seasonally-adjusted tonnage was up 7.5%, the fourth consecutive year-over-year gain and the largest increase since January 2005. For the first quarter of 2010, seasonally-adjusted tonnage was up 4.9% compared with the same period last year.

“Freight is moving in the right direction and I continue to hear from motor carriers that both the demand and supply situations are steadily improving,” ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said in a statement.

Costello said first-quarter improvements were the result of a growing economy and to a slight inventory build after some sectors slashed inventories by too much in 2009.

“For most fleets, freight volumes feel better than reported tonnage because the supply situation, particularly in the truckload sector, is turning quickly,” he explained.

Fort Smith-based ABF Freight System reported that its tonnage for the first quarter of 2010 was 706,999, up 4.17% over the 2009 period. However, the ATA index gains have yet to translate into better financial times. Arkansas Best — the parent company of ABF — reported April 23 that it lost $21.4 million in the first quarter of 2010.

Van Buren-based USA Truck does not report tonnage, but its trucks drove 61,481 miles in the quarter, down 0.2% from the same quarter of 2009. The company on April 22 posted a $2.99 million loss in the first quarter of 2010, compared to a $1.9 million loss in the 2009 period.

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.