NASHVILLE, Ind. — FTR Associates’ Trucking Conditions Index dropped two points in May to a reading of -22, indicating further hardships for the trucking industry.

The latest decline was due to continued overcapacity in the trucking industry. The FTR Trucking Conditions Index combines five trucking industry statistics into one metric to measure the overall health of the US trucking industry. It’s published in FTR’s Trucker’s Dashboard.

Previous to the two-point drop, the index had shown three consecutive monthly improvements. A rating of 0 is neutral, so the current -22 places the health of the trucking industry “in solidly negative territory,” FTR said in a release.

“The improvement in the Trucking Conditions Index, prior to June, was a function of reductions in the interest rates that truckers are paying, as well as the general expectation that freight will stop falling later this year,” says Noel Perry, senior consultant and managing director of FTR Consulting Group.  “Further improvement in the Index will require that freight volumes actually stop contracting and rates begin to improve.  This will not occur for some months yet and when it does, it will be a slow climb.”