Business and Finance

The trucking industry took a step back in May, with tonnage slipping for the first time since February but still up from a year ago. The American Trucking Associations, a trade group, on Friday said its advance index of for-hire truck tonnage fell 0.6 percent in May, down from a revised 1 percent increase in April. The index is adjusted for seasonal variations. With the May decline, the index moved to 109.6. The base year of 2000 equals 100. ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said that despite the dip, he saw industry trends continuing to improve. “There is no way that freight can increase every month, and we should expect periodic decreases,” he said in a release. “This doesn’t take away from the fact that freight volumes are quite good, especially considering the reduction in truck supply over the last couple of years.” Compared with May 2009, tonnage was up 7.2 percent, the sixth straight year-to-year improvement. For the first five months of the year, tonnage was 6.2 percent better than during the same period last year. Not seasonally adjusted, the ATA index fell 2.8 percent to 108.3 between April and May. Earlier this month, Overland Park-based trucking giant YRC Worldwide Inc. (Nasdaq: YRCW) said freight volumes continued to rise in June and it probably would report positive unadjusted earnings for the second quarter. http://kansascity.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2010/06/14/daily1.html Trucking has been a leading indicator of the U.S. economy’s health, hauling 68 percent of tonnage carried by domestic modes of freight transportation.

Source