ARLINGTON, VA — The American Trucking Associations’ (ATA) advance seasonally adjusted (SA) for-hire truck tonnage index climbed 0.3 percent in November after rising 0.4 percent in October.

The big news, however, is that November marked a year-over-year gain of 6 percent —the largest year-over-year (YoY) gain since a 6.5 percent climb back in June 2011.

“As I said last month, tonnage levels continue to point to an economy that is growing, not sliding into a recession,” ATA chief economist Bob Costello said. “Over the last three months, tonnage is up 2.3% and stands at the highest level since January of this year.

“Two primary factors have helped truck tonnage in recent months," Costello explained. "First, manufacturing output, which generates a significant amount of truck freight, has generally been increasing. Second, retail inventories are very lean, which is helping freight as well since retailers don’t have much excess stock and need to replenish when sales go up.” he said.

The not seasonally adjusted index came in at 2.6 percent below October.