Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
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JOURNAL TRUCKGAUGE Inventories a bit leaner in July Trucking companies should breathe at least a little easier that inventories did not continue to swell relative to sales in July. The inventories-to-sales ratio in the economy dipped to 1.28 from 1.29 in June. The June level had been the highest since February 2010 and raised some concern of slower shipment activity had the trend continued. Manufacturing orders contract again in August (Above 50%: generally expanding) 47.1% DOT freight index barely moves in July 100 120 20 40 60 80 0 2009 2010 2011 2012 109.6 55 For the third straight month, the New Orders Index for the manufacturing sector was below the 50% thresh- old, suggesting a slight near-term contraction in freight shipments. The composite PMI stood at 49.6% – a slight deterioration from July. SOURCE: INSTITUTE OF SUPPLY MANAGEMENT NEW ORDERS INDEX The amount of freight carried by the for-hire transportation industry rose 0.1% in July from June, rising after a one-month decline, according to the U.S. Department of Transporta- tion' Trailer and container loads for U.S. railroads were up 4.3% in August over s Bureau of Transportation Statistics' Freight Transportation Services Index. The July index level (109.6) was 16.3 percent above the April 2009 low during the recession. The Freight TSI in July continued a pattern of little change since January, appar- ently refl ecting slow economic growth, BTS said. SOURCE: U.S. DOT BTS Rail carloads were down 0.7%. August 2011. For more data, forecasts and trends, as well as alerts and weekly and monthly summaries, subscribe to TruckGauge at www.truckgauge.com. 24 COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | OCTOBER 2012 Untitled-8 1 65 45 50 60