The Source for Trucking News, Opinions and Trucking Jobs | Trucking on a Downturn?

November was pretty slow for us. When we got back from taking most of
December off, we were told that December was really bad for the company
we haul for. It may have been just us or it may have been the sector of
trucking we haul in or it could have been any number of things. We haul in a fairly narrow sector of trucking, mainly a lot of trade shows, personal and corporate moves and a lot of store display fixtures. If retail goes down, they’re not going to be ordering new shelves and
display cases. And if companies don’t grow they don’t hire and people don’t move to get the new jobs. So, when I see headlines like these, I’m not really surprised -

Trucking shipments down 9% domestically in November.
Associated Press
Dec. 29, 2006 12:00 AM
WASHINGTON - In a potentially worrisome sign for the U.S. economy, domestic trucking shipments declined by almost 9 percent in November, marking the largest year-over-year decrease in almost six years, the industry’s largest trade association said.

The American Trucking Associations said in a monthly report released late Wednesday that its seasonally adjusted truck tonnage index stands at its lowest level since late 2003, after an 8.8 percent decline vs. the same month a year ago. The index fell 3.6 percent from the prior month.

Those are a lot of numbers, how about some more?

Costello cautioned that year-over-year comparisons might be skewed by
the “very robust volumes” the industry saw during the same period a
year ago.

The Alexandria, Va.-based trucking group said its tonnage index stood
at 106.8 in November. The index, which stood at 100 in 2000, measures
the weight of freight hauled by U.S. truckers, based on surveys from
its membership.

I honestly don’t know what any of those numbers really mean, but like the article says, “”One month certainly doesn’t make a trend…”. But while everyone was complaining about fuel prices, no one was noticing how well trucking was doing. If things really do go a little downhill, it will show who drives smart and who doesn’t. Or it could be a seasonal blip and everything will be fine.