For-hire truck tonnage dropped 0.8% in August, following a 0.5% July decline, according to the American Trucking Assns. (ATA). Although this marks the third consecutive month of declines in the index year to date, truck tonnage was up 2.2% compared with the same period in 2004.

Based on Federal Reserve data on manufacturing output, truck tonnage weighted manufacturing production slowed from 4.0% year-over-year growth in January, to 0.1% in August, ATA said. This slowdown played a “significant” role in deceleration of tonnage, ATA chief economist Bob Costello stated in a news release.