ARLINGTON, Va. – The American Trucking Associations’ seasonally-adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index went down 4.5% in March after posting a 7.2% increase in February.

Year-over-year, the SA index was up 2.2%. Year-to-date, compared with the same period in 2015, tonnage was up 3.9%.

The not seasonally adjusted index equaled 142.1 in March, which was 10.2% above February’s index reading (129).

“As expected, tonnage came back to earth in March from the jump in February,” said ATA chief economist Bob Costello. “These things tend to correct, and March took back more than half of the surprisingly large gain in February.

“The freight economy continues to be mixed, with housing and consumer spending generally giving support to tonnage, while new fracking activity and factory output being drags. In addition, freight volumes are softer than the overall economy because of the current inventory overhang throughout the supply chain.”