Article: Tonnage Plummets 14.1%

Dec. Drop Is Worst in More Than a Decade

December truck tonnage plummeted 14.1% from year-earlier levels and 11.1% from November, the worst freight performance in more than a decade.

American Trucking Associations said the seasonally adjusted index fell to 98.3, making it the greatest sequential monthly decline since April 1994, when a Teamsters strike crippled freight movement.

The year-to-year drop in December was the largest since 1996 and pushed the index to its lowest level since December 2000. For the entire fourth quarter of 2008, tonnage was down 6% from yearearlier levels.

"Motor carrier freight is a reflection of the tangible-goods economy, and December's numbers leave no doubt ...

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