ARLINGTON, Va. – The American Trucking Associations’ (ATA) advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index decreased 0.1% in June, marking the third consecutive month-to-month drop. Tonnage fell 1.3% in May and has dropped 3.5% since March. The not seasonally adjusted index dropped 3.3% from May to 114.1.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the tonnage index declined to a seven-month low of 110.5 in June from 110.6 the previous month. Compared with a year earlier, tonnage was down 3.4% in June, which is just a slight improvement from the 3.6% year-over-year decrease in May.

ATA chief economist Bob Costello said that while the US government reported the economy grew at a 3.4% annualized rate in the second quarter, that strength did not filter into the transport sector. “Our tonnage index fell 1.8% during the second quarter from the first quarter and was 3.2% lower than the same quarter in 2006,” he said.

Costello attributed this difference to several trends. First, the so-called “goods” economy, which is more pertinent for transportation companies and excludes services and adds in imports of goods, unlike the GDP calculation by the government, grew at a slower 2.6% annualized rate in the second quarter compared with the overall growth of 3.4%.

Second, the housing sector continues to be a bigger drag on motor carriers than the economy at large. Residential investment fell 9.3% during the second quarter, according to Bureau of Economic Analysis. Third, manufacturing production continues to contract on a year-over-year basis.