TL tonnage dipped in June, according to data tracked by the American Trucking Associations (ATA). The trade group said its for-hire truck tonnage index slid 0.8% last month, which followed a 0.9% gain in May.
While the tonnage index is up 2.3% versus June of 2013, that’s down from May’s 3.3% year-over-year gain, noted Bob Costello, ATA’s chief economist who also got recently promoted to senior vice president for the organization.
“This year-over-year increase was the second smallest in 2014, following a 1% gain in January. Year-to-date, compared with the same period last year, tonnage is up 2.8%,” he said in a statement. “June was one of those months where the data doesn’t quite match up with the anecdotal reports from fleets [as] we had heard the freight volumes were good.”
Costello added that tonnage had increased for four consecutive months prior to June totaling 4.4%, so despite the dip in June, he pointed out that tonnage volumes in the second quarter were much better than in the first quarter.
“Tonnage increased 2.3% from the first quarter, which was the largest quarter-to-quarter gain since the first quarter in 2013,” Costello explained. “Compared with the second quarter in 2013, tonnage increased 3.2%, a percentage point better than the first quarter's year-over-year increase.”
