Freight Volume on the Upswing!

The American Trucking Associations’

advanced seasonally adjusted

(SA) For

‐Hire Truck Tonnage

Index gained 0.9% in March

after decreasing 0.7% in February.

Tonnage has now increased in

four of the last five months. Specifically,

since November 2012, the

index is up 7.6%. In March, the SA

index equaled 123.5 versus 122.3 in

February. The highest level on record

was December 2011 at 124.3.

Compared with March 2012, the SA

index was up a solid 3.8%, beating

February’s 3.1% year

‐over‐year

gain. Year

‐to‐date, compared with

the same period in 2012, the tonnage

index is up 3.9%.

The not seasonally adjusted

index, which represents the

change in tonnage actually hauled

by the fleets before any seasonal

adjustment, equaled 125.2 in

March, which was 11.5% above the

previous month (112.3).

“Fitting with the expectation

for solid gross domestic product

growth in the first quarter, tonnage

was strong in March and the

quarter overall,” ATA Chief Economist

Bob Costello said. “At 3.9%

year

‐over‐year growth, the first

quarter increase was the best

since the final quarter 2011.”