ATA Truck Tonnage Index Up 1.5% in April

The American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index went up 1.5% in April, after rising 0.6% the previous month. In April, the index equaled 129.1 (2000=100) versus 127.2 in March. The all-time high was in November 2013 (131.0).

Compared with April 2013, the SA index increased 4.8%, which is the largest year-over-year gain of 2014. Year-to-date, compared with the same period last year, tonnage is up 2.9%.

The not seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equaled 131.5 in April, which was 1.6% above the previous month (129.4).

“April was the third straight gain in tonnage totaling 4%,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. Tonnage is off 1.4% from the all-time high in November.

“I’m pleased that tonnage has been making solid progress after falling a total of 5.2% in December and January,” he said. “And April’s nice gain was better than the contraction in industrial production and the lackluster retail sales during the same month.”