US truck tonnage rises 3.2% in MayARLINGTON, Va. — US truck tonnage posted its first gain since February, rising 3.2% in May, according to the American Trucking Associations’ seasonally-adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index.
However, the modest gains were not enough to erase the 6.7% reduction suffered through March and April, the ATA noted. Tonnage was still off 11% compared to May, 2008, however that’s the best year-over-year result in three months.
ATA chief economist Bob Costello said it’s too early to expect a surge in truck tonnage.
“I am hopeful that the worst is behind us, but I just don’t see anything on the economic horizon that suggests freight transportation is ready to explode,” Costello said. “The consumer is still facing too many headwinds, including employment losses, tight credit, rising fuel prices, and falling home values, to name a few, that will make it very difficult for household spending to jump in the near term.”
However, Costello added he doesn’t expect tonnage to deteriorate much further.
Archive for July, 2009
Truck Tonnage Rises!
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009Truck Driving Jobs Decrease in June
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009A great article from eTrucker Staff goes through the June Payroll Employment Numbers and how they relate to the truck driving jobs industry. In the article they discuss the some of the month over month changes from May to June.
Here is the article:
“Trucking jobs drop in June”- By eTrucker Staff
Payroll employment among for-hire trucking companies in June dropped 0.9 percent from May levels and 9.2 percent from June 2008 on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to preliminary figures released by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. The latest numbers also reflect a slight upward revision in trucking employment levels for May and a slight downward revision for April.
With the estimated 11,000 jobs lost in May, the trucking industry has lost more than 75,000 jobs since the end of 2008 – a decline of 5.6 percent. Job cuts since the beginning of August when trucking jobs cuts began to accelerate total 124,700, or 9 percent. The BLS numbers reflect all payroll employment in for-hire trucking, but they don’t include trucking-related jobs in other industries, such as a truck driver for a private fleet.
Seasonally adjusted trucking employment peaked in January 2007 at more than 1.45 million, according to BLS figures. Since then, for-hire trucking companies have shed nearly 189,000 jobs, or 13 percent.
In May, the decline in trucking employment slightly outpaced that in the entire U.S. economy. Nonfarm payroll employment fell by 467,000 jobs or 0.4 percent from May to June on a seasonally adjusted basis. Compared to June 2008, non-farm payroll employment is down 4.1 percent.
This complete and original article can be found at http://www.etrucker.com/apps/news/article.asp?id=79941
These Truck Driving Schools Just Keep On Trucking
Monday, July 6th, 2009WCSH6.com ran an an article today, July 6th 2009, about the Northeast Technical Institute. According to the article the training school is slowing acceptance into it’s truck driving school program. This trimming comes due to the slowing of the economy.
The article posted by author Brian Yocono says that their are currently not very many trucking jobs in the trucking industry right now . The schools’ president, says he has not seen the industry like this in 19 years.
Well, here at CR England, We just keep on trucking!
We haven’t reduced our enrollment at all. In fact, if your looking for great truck driving schools take a look at our program. We guarantee our graduates a job and have financing availaible for everyone regardless of their credit situation. We are the largest refrigerted carrier in the nation and offer great pay and benefits.
All ready have a Class A License?
We are looking for you too! CR England has many great opportunites for those looking for truck driving jobs. If your looking to drive for a stable and reliable company stop by our website for more information. Visit us at http://www.CREngland.com
The original WCH6.com article can be found online at the following address: http://www.wcsh6.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=105169&catid=2
B5 Biodiesel Makes Big Move
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009This week some news articles have been flying around about B5 bio diesel. an article on Chron.com confirmed that that 15,000 barrels of B5 bio diesel have been piped from Georgia to Virginina and from Georgia to Mississippi.
This is the first reported piping of the diesel fuel blend. According to a 2007 law 1 billion gallons of B5 need to be injected into the nations fuel supply by 2012. Students in trucking schools and professional truck drivers should be prepared by the 2012 deadline.
This big announcement came from Kinder Morgan Energy Partners. A more complete article about this big step towards a change in diesel fuel use also ran in the New York Times Energy & Environment section on July 2nd, 2009. The article written by Kate Galbraith discusses a small issue regarding the possibility of biodiesel contaminating jet fuel that runs through the pipe line.
I think we know a about a work around for the issue of pipe contamination, that requires a tanker endorsement. Certainly in our current economic environment we could use a few more jobs, why not make them truck driving jobs!
The articles mentioned above can be found at:
Chron.com: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/energy/6505588.html
New York Times: http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/02/first-biodiesel-pipeline-starts-operations/
