According to Transport topics:
Severe winter weather took a toll on truck tonnage in February, according to American Trucking Associations.
The ATA For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index for the month declined a seasonally adjusted 5.9% to 110 compared with 119.1 a year ago, and fell 4.5% compared with January. That month, the index measured 115.2.
For purposes of the index, the year 2015 = 100.
ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said the February declines are more an indication of the troubles trucking companies faced during winter storms that hit the country last month than they are a sign of weak economic conditions. “February’s drop was exacerbated — perhaps completely caused — by the severe winter weather that impacted much of the country during the month,” Costello said. “Many other economic indicators were also soft in February due to the bad storms, but I continue to expect a nice climb up for the economy and truck freight as economic stimulus checks are spent, and more people are vaccinated.”
For almost a week in February, large parts of Texas and other southern states battled freezing temperatures, snow and ice that caused severe damage to the Texas power grid and left millions of people without electricity. While the power has been restored, State College, Pa.-based media company AccuWeather Inc. estimates the storm’s total economic damage at $130 billion in Texas alone. That figure is up from its earlier estimate of between $50 billion to $60 billion. For the entire nation, it estimates $155 billion in losses.
“In February, we saw one of the most intensely cold and stormy patterns of winter weather not seen in decades, with extreme record low temperatures and ice spread out across a very large area in multiple states,” AccuWeather CEO Joel Myers said in a statement.
He noted that Texas “bore the brunt of the impact,” with lives lost, power outages, water disruptions, burst pipes and, from a business perspective, destroyed citrus crops.
While FedEx Corp. announced record fiscal third-quarter earnings on March 19, the Memphis, Tenn.-based company noted the February weather took a $350 million bite out of its operating income as storms impacted operations at its Memphis headquarters and FedEx Express hubs in North Texas and Indianapolis.
Costello told Transport Topics on March 18 that he is especially optimistic about the prospects for the U.S. economy in the second half of 2021. He is forecasting the nation’s gross domestic product will increase by 7%, up from his 5% forecast just a few weeks ago.
“We are going to have some insane growth rates for GDP,” he said. ATA’s For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index is dominated by contract freight, as opposed to spot market freight. Trucking represents 72.5% of tonnage carried by all domestic freight transportation modes, including manufactured and retail goods, ATA said. Trucks hauled 11.84 billion tons of freight in 2019.
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By: LFS Marketing
March 23, 2021
