The American Trucking Associations’ For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index increased 1.5% in April, after rising 0.6% the previous month, according to newly released figures.

In April, the index equaled 129.1 versus 127.2 in March. The all-time high was in November 2013 at 131.

Compared with April 2013, the seasonally adjusted index increased 4.8%, which is the largest year-over-year gain of 2014. Year-to-date, compared with the same period last year, tonnage is up 2.9%.

The not seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equaled 131.5 in April, which was 1.6% above the previous month at 129.4.

“April was the third straight gain in tonnage totaling 4%,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello, who noted tonnage in April is off just 1.4% from the all-time high in November.

“I’m pleased that tonnage has been making solid progress after falling a total of 5.2% in December and January,” he said. “And April’s nice gain was better than the contraction in industrial production and the lackluster retail sales during the same month.” 

ATA calculates the tonnage index based on surveys from its membership.