American Trucking Associations
American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index decreased 4.5% in March, following a 7.2% surge during February. In March, the index equaled 137.6 (2000=100), down from 144 in February. February’s level is an all-time high.
Freight shipments slowed to only a 1.4 percent rise in March, following an 8.3 percent jump in February. Expenditures for freight declined 1.0 percent in March—reversing a portion of the 6.3 percent increase in February. Manufacturing and building construction have been on an upward trend and have just started showing up in the supply chain.
American Trucking Associations
American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index jumped 7.2% in February, following a revised 0.3% reduction during January. In February, the index equaled 144 (2000=100), up from 134.3 in January. February’s level is an all-time high.
U.S. Department of Transportation
The Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI), which is based on the amount of freight carried by the for-hire transportation industry, rose 0.5 percent in January from December, rising for the second consecutive month, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics’ (BTS). The January 2016 index level (122.2) was 29.0 percent above the April 2009 low during the most recent recession.
Cass Information Systems, Inc.
The number of North American freight shipments in February shot up 8.3 percent from January, erasing January’s decline, while expenditures for freight shipments gained 6.3 percent (not quite overcoming January’s drop). The strong growth in freight in February is the expected trend, but the recent four-month slide in freight traffic put the starting point for 2016 significantly lower than in the last several years. Economic growth slowed more than expected in the fourth quarter of 2015 and continued into January. The robust turnaround this month signals improvement, but current economic conditions do not support a robust rebound. Global markets are still weak—especially with China’s economic turmoil—which is reducing demand; the U.S. dollar remains strong, making our export goods more expensive on world markets; consumers are in a stronger position with positive income growth, but still remain conservative in their spending; and more growth has been seen in the purchase of services (eating out, hotels, airfare, movies, etc.) rather than goods purchases. Inventories remain very high in the goods sectors, which has reduced imports and domestic manufacturing.
As a reminder, the National Motor Freight Classification (NMFC) changed its guidelines regarding concealed damage claims. It reduced the amount of time in which LTL carriers should be notified of concealed damage from 15 days to 5.
This change went into effect on April 18, 2015. The result is that both LTL shippers and receivers now have only five (5) business days to provide verbal and written notification of any LTL concealed damages to the respective carrier, without additional substantiative burdens.
American Trucking Associations
American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index fell 1.4% in January, following no change during December. In January, the index equaled 132.8 (2000=100), down from 134.7 in December, an all-time high (along with November 2015).
The number of freight shipments and the dollars spent on freight have been in a typical seasonal decline since September 2015. Our shipment index opened the year just 0.2 percent below last January, while the expenditures index is down 1.4 percent. The economy grew much more slowly in the second half of 2015, so January freight shipments are down 11.6 percent and dollars spent are down 11.5 percent from the June 2015 high. The declines in the fourth quarter and again in January are normal seasonal trends and are not necessarily signs of further weakening.
Bureau of Transportation Statistics
The Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI), which is based on the amount of freight carried by the for-hire transportation industry, fell 0.4 percent in December from November, declining for the second consecutive month, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics’ (BTS). The December 2015 index level (121.0) was 27.8 percent above the April 2009 low during the most recent recession.
American Trucking Associations
American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index increased 1% in December, following a decrease of 0.9% during November. In December, the index equaled 135.6 (2000=100), up from 134.3 in November, and 0.1% below the all-time high of 135.8 reached in January 2015.
