Mark Szakonyi, Daily Content Editor | Dec 21, 2011 11:08AM EST
Trucks handled more freight November, as manufacturing output and a restocking of retail inventories helped increase for-hire truck tonnage 0.3 percent from October and 6 percent year-over-year, the American Trucking Associations said Wednesday.
The increase last month was the largest year-over-year gain since June, when tonnage rose 6.5 percent. Despite economic uncertainty, tonnage is up 2.3 percent in the last three months year-over-year, and tonnage was up 2.6 percent in the first 11 months of 2011, according to the ATA For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index.
The ATA revised October freight tonnage growth on a year-over-year basis downward from 0.5 percent to 0.4 percent.
ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said the healthy freight traffic points “to an economy that is growing, not sliding into a recession.”
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