The American Trucking Associations' seasonally adjusted (SA) for hire truck tonnage index fell 2.9 percent in February 2011 after a 3.5 percent increase in January. February drop brings the SA index at 113.3 (2000=100) in February compared to a 116.6 SA index in January.
Compared with February 2010, tonnage rose 4.2 percent, down from January's 7.6 percent year-over-year increase. Through the first two months of the year however, tonnage is up 5.9 percent compared with the same two months last year.
ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said that the winter storms in February probably played a role in the latest reduction and that he wasn't concerned about the decrease. "Tonnage is not going to increase every month and in general I'm very pleased with freight volumes early this year."