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ATA Truck Tonnage Index Surges 9.9% Year over Year

The American Trucking Associations' advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index rose 3.3% in October, following a 1.9% decline during September. In October, the index equaled 147.6 (2000=100), up from 142.9 in September. Graph: ATA

The American Trucking Associations' advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index rose 3.3% in October, following a 1.9% decline during September. In October, the index equaled 147.6 (2000=100), up from 142.9 in September.

Compared with October 2016, the SA index surged 9.9%, which was the largest year-over-year increase since December 2013. In September, the index increased 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. Year-to-date, compared with the same ten months in 2016, the index is up 3.1%.

ATA also revised its September decline in the index down to a 1.9% drop from the previously reported 0.9% decrease.

The not seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equaled 151 in October, which was 5.1% above the previous month (143.7).

“Continued improvement in truck tonnage reflects a much stronger freight market,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “This strength is the result of several factors, including consumption, factory output, construction and improved inventory levels throughout the supply chain. Additionally, the 6.7% rise in tonnage over the last four months suggests to me that retailers are expecting a good holiday spending season.”

Trucking serves as a barometer of the U.S. economy, representing 70.6% of tonnage carried by all modes of domestic freight transportation, including manufactured and retail goods. Trucks hauled nearly 10.5 billion tons of freight in 2016. Motor carriers collected $676.2 billion, or 79.8% of total revenue earned by all transport modes.

ATA calculates the tonnage index based on surveys from its membership and has been doing so since the 1970s. This is a preliminary figure and subject to change in the final report ...Read the rest of this story

Ten Tesla Takeaways: Part I

In many ways, the Tesla truck launch in California last week pointed the way toward trucking's future. Photo: Jack Roberts

It's been a busy 18 months or so in trucking, with new diesel and electric trucks debuting seemingly every time we turn around. And, of course, here at the eleventh hour, Tesla finally unveiled what was perhaps the most anticipated launch of them all, that of its new, Class 8 all-electric Semi truck.

The Tesla event was all about making a splash. Actual details on the new truck were fairly sparse, and the company will have to clarify several points made during last week's launch, as well as address additional issues that were skipped over.

In the meantime, there was in fact, a lot to be learned from the Tesla Semi launch: Five things we know now... and five things that remain to be seen.

1.Trucking is going to change

We might as well get this one out of the way first: Regardless of what you think of Elon Musk and his new truck, bear in mind that he is a visionary. It was apparent the other night in Hawthorne, that he knows enough about trucking to be dangerous. And that is a reality that is going to impact this industry in one way or the other in the coming months and years.

And Musk is hardly alone in this space. There are any number of visionaries eyeballing trucking right now. Some of them, like Amazon's Jeff Bezos or Peloton's Josh Switkes, are fairly well known to us. But there are also a lot of very talented unknown people working behind the scenes at companies like Apple, Google, Intel, and Walmart who are looking at trucking with fresh eyes. And that means new ways of doing business using ...Read the rest of this story

Ryder Expands Use of Natural Gas

Ryder operates a fleet of liquified natural gas (LNG) heavy-duty trucks and has now partnered with Clean Energy. (Image courtesy of Business Wire)

Ryder System Inc. awarded Clean Energy a four-year fueling contract for a fleet of liquified natural gas (LNG) heavy-duty trucks that move goods for Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc., Toyota's largest manufacturing facility in North America located in Georgetown, Ky.

Clean Energy will open a station in Georgetown to fuel the trucks that are expected to consume approximately 380,000 gasoline gallon equivalents (GGEs) of LNG each year.

Ryder has made sustainability a priority and has been a leader in expanding its offering of advanced vehicle technologies. Toyota has also rapidly expanded into alternative fuels and has encouraged its third-party carriers to move its goods in a more sustainable way.

Related: Ryder Taking Delivery of 125 Chanje Electric Vans

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