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Mar 27, 2009 2:31 PM

The American Trucking Associations (ATA) advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index edged 1.7 percent higher in February 2009, marking the second consecutive month-to-month increase.

"As I said last month, tonnage will not fall every month on a seasonally adjusted basis, and just because it rose again in February doesn’t mean the economy is on the mend," said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. "Tonnage plunged again on a year-over-year basis, which highlights the current weakness in the freight environment."

Costello also noted that fleets are still witnessing a tough environment and there is nothing that suggests freight volumes are about to embark on a sustained recovery.

The gain over the past two months, totaling 4.8 percent, did not even erase the 7.8 percent contraction in December 2008, ATA said.

In February, the seasonally adjusted tonnage index equaled just 106.5 (2000 = 100), which is still extremely low. Also in February, the fleets reported lower volumes than in January, as the not seasonally adjusted index fell another 2 percent last month on top of January’s 4.4 percent drop, according to ATA.

In February, the not seasonally adjusted index equaled 95.3. Compared with February 2008, tonnage contracted 9.2 percent, which was the third-worst year-over-year decrease of the current cycle.