Trucking activity in the United States contracted in November, the American Trucking Associations’ (ATA) reported this week through its advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index, just the second decrease since July.
“The frustratingly choppy freight environment continued in November,” says ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “Since hitting a low in January of this year, tonnage is up a total of 1.1%, but the path has been fraught with nice gains one month only to come back down the next. The good news is that the overall trend this year is up, albeit at a slow rate.”
In November, the ATA advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index equaled 112.5 compared with 114.6 in October. The index, which is based on 2015 as 100, was down 1% from the same month last year. The not seasonally adjusted index, which calculates raw changes in tonnage hauled, equaled 109.6 in November, 9.6% below October.
ATA says the seasonally adjusted decrease follows a sequential 1.2% gain in October, which was unchanged from the November 19 press release.
