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Released: August 29, 2007
Truck Tonnage Falls in July
For the first time since March of this year, truck tonnage increased from month to month, according to a report from the American Trucking Associations. ATA's advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index rose 0.3 percent to 110.9 in July, the highest reading since April. Despite the recovery, tonnage was down 3.7 percent from July a year ago, ATA said. Year-to-date the tonnage index was 2.6 percent lower than the same period in 2006.
July's tonnage reading points to continued softness in the trucking industry, said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. Looking for positive signs, Costello pointed out that the number of for-hire loads, which ATA publishes in a separate report, increased 0.4 percent during the first half of 2007 on a year-over-year basis. Construction freight on average weighs more than general freight and, as a result, the weakness in the construction market is having a bigger impact on truck tonnage, said Costello. The outlook for the fall freight season is a modest one. If shippers spread the peak season over more months, as they have increasingly done, and if the housing market remains down, Costello predicts the economic growth will likely remain moderate.
Rail Traffic Declines
The railroad freight recession eased up in the third week of August as carload traffic declined a little less than the average for the year to date. But according to figures from the Association of American Railroads, intermodal traffic got much worse. The AAR estimated last Thursday that total volume in the week ended Aug. 18 was 35.3 billion ton-miles, down just 0.3 percent from the same week last year. Total volume for the year to date was 1.1 trillion ton-miles, down 2.4 percent from 2006. Carload freight totaled 338,364 cars for the week, down 1.5 percent from last year. Cumulative volume for the first 33 weeks of 2007 totaled 10,687,926 carloads, down 3.7 percent from 2006.
Intermodal volume showed signs of the beginnings of a weak peak season as Pacific Northwest ports saw fewer containers arriving. U.S. railroads carried a total of 238,270 trailers or containers, down 4.3 percent from last year, with trailer volume down 11.9 percent from last year and container volume off 2 percent. Intermodal volume for the year to date was down 1.7 percent with trailers down 11.7 percent and containers actually up 1.4 percent since January, compared with 2006.
Most commodity groups were down compared with last year, but the largest commodities were not the hardest hit. Coal was down just 0.2 percent. Grain fell 2.2 percent after gaining slightly in the previous week. The big declines were in products needed for manufacturing and construction. Metals were down 15.3 percent. Crushed stone & gravel were down 7.9 percent. For the year to date, only three commodities have increased the number of shipments. Food and kindred products are up 0.2 percent; chemicals increased 2.4 percent; and petroleum products increased 5.8 percent over 2006.
Diesel Drops Half-Cent to $2.863
As Hurricane Dean passed to the south of Gulf area refineries without causing any serious damage last week, crude oil futures prices dipped slightly, along with retail prices for diesel and gasoline. The average retail price for a gallon of diesel fuel fell half a cent last week to $2.863, down 16.4 cents from a year ago, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported to NASSTRAC on Monday.
The Gulf Coast and Midwest regions showed tiny increases, but prices in the rest of the country eased back. The only region where the price changed more than a penny was in the Rocky Mountains. Diesel fell 3 cents there to $2.947, down 39.9 cents from a year ago. Gasoline fell 3 cents over the last two weeks to $2.75 for regular grade, according to the semimonthly Lundberg Survey. The New York Mercantile Exchange reported that West Texas Intermediate went from $71.98 for September delivery on Aug. 17 to $71.09 per barrel for October delivery on Aug. 24.
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