The American Trucking Associations' advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index was up 2.1 percent in July, raising the index to 101.9
. While the increase was a welcome change from June's decline of 2.4 percent, it was not enough to make up for June's loss.

The not seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, was down 0.9 percent from June, to 106.3.

From July 2008, tonnage slipped 10.4 percent, the best year-over-year showing since February of this year. June's 13.6 percent decline from 2008 was the largest year-over-year decline of the current cycle, exceeding the 13.2 percent fall in April.

Bob Costello, ATA chief economist, had expected truck tonnage to be volatile in the months ahead. "It is not unusual for an economic indicator to become volatile before changing direction," he said.

"While I am optimistic that the worst is behind us, I just don't see anything on the economic horizon that suggests freight tonnage is about to rise significantly or consistently," Costello said. "Still, even small gains are better than the February 2008 through April 2009 cumulative tonnage reduction of 15.5 percent."