US truck tonnage up slightly in October

www.chinatrucks.com: US truck tonnage rose 0.5% in October after rising a revised 1.5% in September, according to the most recent figures from the American Trucking Associations. September's increase was slightly less than the 1.6% gain the ATA previously reported.
Compared with October 2010, seasonally-adjusted tonnage was up 5.7%. In September, the tonnage index was 5.8% above a year earlier. October's tonnage reading was just 4.4% below the index's all-time high in January 2005.
 
"Tonnage readings continue to show that economy is growing and not sliding back into recession," said ATA chief economist Bob Costello said. "Over the last two months, tonnage is up nearly 2% and is just shy of the recent high in January of this year." 
Costello added that he expects freight and the economy to increase at a slower pace next year, but that truck tonnage can outpace GDP growth.
 
"Manufacturing output has been the primary reason why truck freight volumes are increasing more than GDP. The industrial sector should slow next year, but still grow more than GDP, which means truck tonnage can increase faster than GDP too," he said.

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