The volume of individual consumer shipments grew 11.2 percent in the first five months of 2010 from the same period of 2009
, according to the latest issue of American Moving & Storage Association's Industry Trends. This improvement compares to declines of 21.5 percent and 18.2 percent for the January to May periods of 2009 and 2008, respectively.

"These numbers are very encouraging," said Linda Bauer Darr, AMSA president and CEO. "They show big improvement in both of the private-sector business lines we track, consumers as well as corporate relocations, which were up nearly two percent."

The volume of household goods shipped through the first five months of this year was up 4.2 percent from the same period a year ago, another indication of a slowly strengthening economy.

Although the volume of household goods shipped by the U.S. military was off by just 1 percent, shipment volume by civilian federal agencies, the smallest of the four business lines tracked, fell by more than 10 percent over the five-month period.

AMSA also found that California, Texas and Florida had the top shipment volume last year, including both inbound and outbound. Colorado and the District of Columbia metro area were at the top of the inbound state list, while Michigan continued to lead the outbound list by a large margin over New Jersey. Metropolitan areas with over 500 moves inbound shipments were led by Richland, Wash., Wilmington, N.C., and Chattanooga, Tenn.

Published quarterly, Industry Trends provides an overview of current trends and business activity within the sector. Data is based on information submitted confidentially to AMSA by its member companies as well as from other sources.

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