An economic slowdown will hurt trucking this year, but growth will make truck traffic rise at an annual rate of 3% to 3.5% a year between 2002 and 2005, according to one of the industry’s leading economic analysts.
Peter Toja, president of Economic Planning Associates, said the growth will come from “further expansion of the [United States] economy, rapid growth in Nafta trade and annual increases in total merchandise trade with the rest of the world.”
However, Toja pronounced that the short-term outlook for truck traffic is “relatively flat” compared with 1999’s performance.
“Next year, somewhat more favorable year-over-year comparisons coupled with a still expanding U.S. economy will serve to lift truck traffic 2% to 2.5%,” he said.
For the full story, see the Sept. 25 print edition of Transport Topics. .
