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June 24, 2005 8:45 AM, EDT

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.S. orders for durable goods rose 5.5% in May, the most in more than a year, the Commerce Department said Friday.

Orders of goods made to last at least three years increased to $210.7 billion, Commerce said. The increase, which followed a 1.4% gain in April, was well above the 1.5% analysts had forecast, Bloomberg reported.

Trucking is a major beneficiary of durable goods manufacturing, hauling both components and finished goods.

The orders were led by transportation bookings, which jumped 21.2%, the most since July 2002. Motor vehicle orders rose 0.2% and aircraft orders surged 165%, Commerce said.

Excluding transportation orders, May bookings fell 0.2%, below economists’ forecast of a 0.5% rise, Bloomberg reported.

Orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a proxy for future business investment, fell 2.3%, Commerce said, the biggest drop since October.

Machinery orders fell 1.9% in May following a 2.6% gain in April. Orders for computers and electronic products fell 1.2% following a 6% drop the previous month.