THE American Trucking Associations' (ATA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index jumped 6.3 per cent in October to 119.9 from September's 112.8. "After slowing at the end of the third quarter, truck freight surged in October," said ATA economist Bob Costello. "Last month's strength was due, at least in part, to strong import numbers, especially on the west coast. This is likely a pull ahead of imports as shippers try to take delivery of goods before January 1 when tariffs on a large list of goods from China increase from 10 per cent to 25 per cent," he said. September's change over the previous month was revised up to +0.1 per cent (-0.8 per cent was originally reported in the ATA press release of October 23). Compared with October 2017, the index increased 9.5 per cent, up from September's 3.8 per cent year-on-year increase. Year-to-date, compared with the same period last year, tonnage increased 7.3 per cent. Trucking serves as a barometer of the US economy, representing 70.2 per cent of tonnage carried by all modes of domestic freight transport, including manufactured and retail goods. Trucks hauled 10.77 billion tons of freight in 2017. Motor carriers collected $700.1 billion, or 79.3 per cent of total revenue earned by all transport modes.