The American Trucking Associations’ Truck Tonnage Index — a key measure of health in the national trucking industry — rose 2.8% in June.

A business conditions index for nine Midwest and Plains states continues to signal go for the regional economy.
from Channel 7

A hit-and-miss national trucking sector ended 2011 on a high note with a 6.8% increase in a closely watched index that tracks the sector’s health.

The American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) Tonnage Index was up 6.8% in December after rising 0.3% in November 2011. The latest gain put the SA index at 124.5 (2000=100) in December, up from the November level of 116.6.

For all of 2011, tonnage rose 5.9% over the previous year — the largest annual increase since 1998. Tonnage for the last month of the year was 10.5% higher than December 2010, the largest year-over-year gain since July 1998. November tonnage was up 6.1% over the same month last year.

The not seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equaled 116.4 in December, 0.8% above the previous month.

“While I’m not surprised that tonnage increased in December, I am surprised at the magnitude of the gain,” ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said in the ATA statement.

Costello said it was the largest month-to-month increase since January 2005.

“Not only did truck tonnage increase due to solid manufacturing output in December, but also from some likely inventory restocking. Inventories, especially at the retail level, are exceedingly lean, and I suspect that tonnage was higher than expected as the supply chain did some restocking during the month.” he said.

During 2011, the index was down in only five months.

January: up 3.5%
February: down 2.9%
March: up 1.9%
April: down 0.6%
May: down 2%
June: up 2.6%
July: down 0.8%
August: down 0.2%
September: up 1.5%
October: up 0.4%
November: up 0.3%
December: up 6.8%

The financial health of area trucking operations soon will be more clear. Lowell-based J.B. Hunt Transport Services and Van Buren-based USA Truck Inc. are expected to report fourth quarter and full-year 2011 earnings on Thursday (Jan. 26). Fort Smith-based Arkansas Best Corp., the parent company of less-than-truckload carrier ABF Freight System, is scheduled to report earnings on Friday (Jan. 27).

J.B. Hunt posted net income for the first nine months of 2011 totaling $184.441 million, up 30.1% compared to the 2010 period. Total revenue for the first nine months of the year is $3.321 billion, up 19.77% compared to the 2010 period.

USA Truck has not been as financially fortunate. The company’s third-quarter earnings report showed a loss of $4.305 million in the quarter, and a loss of $6.423 million for the first nine months of 2011. In 2010, the company reported a loss of $3.308 million, and a $7.177 million loss in 2009.

ABF is struggling to emerge from the red side of the ledger. For the first nine months of 2011, the company reported net income of $4.929 million, a big swing from the loss of $29.305 million in the same period of 2010. Revenue for the first nine months of 2011 is $1.444 billion, above the $1.216 billion in the 2010 period.

According to the ATA, trucking serves as a barometer of the U.S. economy, representing nearly 67.2% of tonnage carried by all modes of domestic freight transportation, including manufactured and retail goods. Trucks hauled 9 billion tons of freight in 2010. Motor carriers collected $563.4 billion, or 81.2% of total revenue earned by all transport modes.

A hit-and-miss national trucking sector ended 2011 on a high note with a 6.8% increase in a closely watched index that tracks the sector’s health.

The American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) Tonnage Index was up 6.8% in December after rising 0.3% in November 2011. The latest gain put the SA index at 124.5 (2000=100) in December, up from the November level of 116.6.

For all of 2011, tonnage rose 5.9% over the previous year — the largest annual increase since 1998. Tonnage for the last month of the year was 10.5% higher than December 2010, the largest year-over-year gain since July 1998. November tonnage was up 6.1% over the same month last year.

The not seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equaled 116.4 in December, 0.8% above the previous month.

“While I’m not surprised that tonnage increased in December, I am surprised at the magnitude of the gain,” ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said in the ATA statement.

Costello said it was the largest month-to-month increase since January 2005.

“Not only did truck tonnage increase due to solid manufacturing output in December, but also from some likely inventory restocking. Inventories, especially at the retail level, are exceedingly lean, and I suspect that tonnage was higher than expected as the supply chain did some restocking during the month.” he said.

During 2011, the index was down in only five months.

January: up 3.5%
February: down 2.9%
March: up 1.9%
April: down 0.6%
May: down 2%
June: up 2.6%
July: down 0.8%
August: down 0.2%
September: up 1.5%
October: up 0.4%
November: up 0.3%
December: up 6.8%

The financial health of area trucking operations soon will be more clear. Lowell-based J.B. Hunt Transport Services and Van Buren-based USA Truck Inc. are expected to report fourth quarter and full-year 2011 earnings on Thursday (Jan. 26). Fort Smith-based Arkansas Best Corp., the parent company of less-than-truckload carrier ABF Freight System, is scheduled to report earnings on Friday (Jan. 27).

J.B. Hunt posted net income for the first nine months of 2011 totaling $184.441 million, up 30.1% compared to the 2010 period. Total revenue for the first nine months of the year is $3.321 billion, up 19.77% compared to the 2010 period.

USA Truck has not been as financially fortunate. The company’s third-quarter earnings report showed a loss of $4.305 million in the quarter, and a loss of $6.423 million for the first nine months of 2011. In 2010, the company reported a loss of $3.308 million, and a $7.177 million loss in 2009.

ABF is struggling to emerge from the red side of the ledger. For the first nine months of 2011, the company reported net income of $4.929 million, a big swing from the loss of $29.305 million in the same period of 2010. Revenue for the first nine months of 2011 is $1.444 billion, above the $1.216 billion in the 2010 period.

According to the ATA, trucking serves as a barometer of the U.S. economy, representing nearly 67.2% of tonnage carried by all modes of domestic freight transportation, including manufactured and retail goods. Trucks hauled 9 billion tons of freight in 2010. Motor carriers collected $563.4 billion, or 81.2% of total revenue earned by all transport modes.

Michael Tilley with our content partner, The City Wire, is the author of this report. He can be reached by email at mtilley@thecitywire.com.

A hit-and-miss national trucking sector ended 2011 on a high note with a 6.8% increase in a closely watched index that tracks the sector’s health.

The American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) Tonnage Index was up 6.8% in December after rising 0.3% in November 2011. The latest gain put the SA index at 124.5 (2000=100) in December, up from the November level of 116.6.

For all of 2011, tonnage rose 5.9% over the previous year — the largest annual increase since 1998. Tonnage for the last month of the year was 10.5% higher than December 2010, the largest year-over-year gain since July 1998. November tonnage was up 6.1% over the same month last year.

The not seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equaled 116.4 in December, 0.8% above the previous month.

“While I’m not surprised that tonnage increased in December, I am surprised at the magnitude of the gain,” ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said in the ATA statement.

Costello said it was the largest month-to-month increase since January 2005.

“Not only did truck tonnage increase due to solid manufacturing output in December, but also from some likely inventory restocking. Inventories, especially at the retail level, are exceedingly lean, and I suspect that tonnage was higher than expected as the supply chain did some restocking during the month.” he said.

During 2011, the index was down in only five months.

January: up 3.5%
February: down 2.9%
March: up 1.9%
April: down 0.6%
May: down 2%
June: up 2.6%
July: down 0.8%
August: down 0.2%
September: up 1.5%
October: up 0.4%
November: up 0.3%
December: up 6.8%

The financial health of area trucking operations soon will be more clear. Lowell-based J.B. Hunt Transport Services and Van Buren-based USA Truck Inc. are expected to report fourth quarter and full-year 2011 earnings on Thursday (Jan. 26). Fort Smith-based Arkansas Best Corp., the parent company of less-than-truckload carrier ABF Freight System, is scheduled to report earnings on Friday (Jan. 27).

J.B. Hunt posted net income for the first nine months of 2011 totaling $184.441 million, up 30.1% compared to the 2010 period. Total revenue for the first nine months of the year is $3.321 billion, up 19.77% compared to the 2010 period.

USA Truck has not been as financially fortunate. The company’s third-quarter earnings report showed a loss of $4.305 million in the quarter, and a loss of $6.423 million for the first nine months of 2011. In 2010, the company reported a loss of $3.308 million, and a $7.177 million loss in 2009.

ABF is struggling to emerge from the red side of the ledger. For the first nine months of 2011, the company reported net income of $4.929 million, a big swing from the loss of $29.305 million in the same period of 2010. Revenue for the first nine months of 2011 is $1.444 billion, above the $1.216 billion in the 2010 period.

According to the ATA, trucking serves as a barometer of the U.S. economy, representing nearly 67.2% of tonnage carried by all modes of domestic freight transportation, including manufactured and retail goods. Trucks hauled 9 billion tons of freight in 2010. Motor carriers collected $563.4 billion, or 81.2% of total revenue earned by all transport modes.

Michael Tilley with our content partner, The City Wire, is the author of this report. He can be reached by email at mtilley@thecitywire.com.

A hit-and-miss national trucking sector ended 2011 on a high note with a 6.8% increase in a closely watched index that tracks the sector’s health.

The American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) Tonnage Index was up 6.8% in December after rising 0.3% in November 2011. The latest gain put the SA index at 124.5 (2000=100) in December, up from the November level of 116.6.

For all of 2011, tonnage rose 5.9% over the previous year — the largest annual increase since 1998. Tonnage for the last month of the year was 10.5% higher than December 2010, the largest year-over-year gain since July 1998. November tonnage was up 6.1% over the same month last year.

The not seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equaled 116.4 in December, 0.8% above the previous month.

“While I’m not surprised that tonnage increased in December, I am surprised at the magnitude of the gain,” ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said in the ATA statement.

Costello said it was the largest month-to-month increase since January 2005.

“Not only did truck tonnage increase due to solid manufacturing output in December, but also from some likely inventory restocking. Inventories, especially at the retail level, are exceedingly lean, and I suspect that tonnage was higher than expected as the supply chain did some restocking during the month.” he said.

During 2011, the index was down in only five months.

January: up 3.5%
February: down 2.9%
March: up 1.9%
April: down 0.6%
May: down 2%
June: up 2.6%
July: down 0.8%
August: down 0.2%
September: up 1.5%
October: up 0.4%
November: up 0.3%
December: up 6.8%

The financial health of area trucking operations soon will be more clear. Lowell-based J.B. Hunt Transport Services and Van Buren-based USA Truck Inc. are expected to report fourth quarter and full-year 2011 earnings on Thursday (Jan. 26). Fort Smith-based Arkansas Best Corp., the parent company of less-than-truckload carrier ABF Freight System, is scheduled to report earnings on Friday (Jan. 27).

J.B. Hunt posted net income for the first nine months of 2011 totaling $184.441 million, up 30.1% compared to the 2010 period. Total revenue for the first nine months of the year is $3.321 billion, up 19.77% compared to the 2010 period.

USA Truck has not been as financially fortunate. The company’s third-quarter earnings report showed a loss of $4.305 million in the quarter, and a loss of $6.423 million for the first nine months of 2011. In 2010, the company reported a loss of $3.308 million, and a $7.177 million loss in 2009.

ABF is struggling to emerge from the red side of the ledger. For the first nine months of 2011, the company reported net income of $4.929 million, a big swing from the loss of $29.305 million in the same period of 2010. Revenue for the first nine months of 2011 is $1.444 billion, above the $1.216 billion in the 2010 period.

According to the ATA, trucking serves as a barometer of the U.S. economy, representing nearly 67.2% of tonnage carried by all modes of domestic freight transportation, including manufactured and retail goods. Trucks hauled 9 billion tons of freight in 2010. Motor carriers collected $563.4 billion, or 81.2% of total revenue earned by all transport modes.

Michael Tilley with our content partner, The City Wire, is the author of this report. He can be reached by email at mtilley@thecitywire.com.

A regional business conditions index slipped last month but still suggests a growing economy in the months ahead.
from Channel 7

The New York Times has one of those interactive features today, a nationwide look — broken down by congressional district — on ongoing Gallup polling of a fixed panel on their well-being. The link is to a composite of all the factors in the measure. But you can click on the individual components for the same breakdown — food, shelter, happiness, exercise, health insurance, job satisfaction and lots more.

Generally speaking, the 3rd district respondents seem happiest and healthiest in Arkansas. Lowest stress in the 4th, however.

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NORTH LITTLE ROCK – No area of Arkansas has been spared from a childhood obesity epidemic, according to a school-by-school body mass index analysis.

Arkansas conducted the nation’s first such BMI survey last year and released partial results this summer before a full analysis was made public on Tuesday.

“It affects the entire state,” said Dr. Joe Thompson, director of the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement, which coordinated the study. “There’s not a community, there’s not a school, there’s not a family that is not at risk.”

The results are sobering, Thompson said at a news conference at Indian Hills Elementary in North Little Rock.

Overall, 38 percent of students are either overweight or at risk of being overweight, according to the study. Twenty-one percent are overweight with the other 17 percent considered at risk of becoming overweight. The figures, from a measure of 345,892 students’ height and weight, are based on obesity definitions used by the Centers for Disease Control.

“Children and adolescents are developing health conditions now related to childhood obesity which will claim their lives as adults and rob our communities and our families of a healthy and productive citizen,” Thompson said.

Childhood obesity also has led to unprecedented levels of Type II diabetes in children.

Gov. Mike Huckabee, who attended the event, and Thompson outlined steps being taken to tackle the problem.

Huckabee said that six community health education specialists will be assigned to posts across the state. They will assist advisory committees being formed by school districts to recommend nutritional and physical activity changes to help combat the problem.

The specialists will work with 15 community health nurse specialists to link communities and schools in combating the problem.

The advisory panels for each school district are mandated by Act 1220 of 2003. Their membership includes local school board members, school administrators, food service personnel, teacher organizations, parents, students and professional groups, such as nurses and local businesses.

Huckabee said the health department is distributing a kit with nutritional guidelines and ideas for children and families to increase physical activities.

In addition, he said communities, hospitals, physicians and private businesses are developing programs that will help combat childhood and adult obesity.

Fred Klinge, a member of the North Little Rock School District’s advisory panel, told reporters that the attention drawn to the epidemic inspired him to volunteer his athletic club’s services to local elementary schools.

Klinge and other employees from the North Little Rock Athletic Club spend 30 minutes with third grade classes each week. The focus is on noncompetitive activities, he said, to encourage those children who don’t feel that they can compete.

“I would encourage any organization or any small business to get involved in any similar type of activities and programs with their schools,” Klinge said. “It’s fun, it’s simple and you’ll be contributing to the long-term health of our younger generation.”

The act requires the annual BMI screening, which confidentially alerts parents to possible health problems. It also created the state Child Health Advisory Committee to coordinate statewide health efforts. The committee has submitted recommendations to the Department of Education.

Other findings in the BMI analysis:

-32 percent of kindergartners were overweight or at risk. The percentage peaks by sixth grade, when 42 percent are overweight or at risk. The percentage is maintained through high school for boys, and girls show a modest decrease.

-37 percent of white students are overweight compared to 41 percent of blacks and 46 percent of Hispanics.

-Across the state, 1,058 of over 1,100 schools, or about 94 percent, measured their students’ body mass index.

It may not be the index a typical economist would create or quote, but Ken Kupchick is hopeful his Baloney Sandwich Index will numerically demonstrate the rising impact of persistent high unemployment in the Fort Smith region.

The seasonally adjusted BSI for October is 183.2, well above the 130 in October 2010, the 122.9 in October 2009 and the 107.6 in October 2008.

Kupchick, director of marketing and development for the River Valley Regional Food Bank, uses three numbers to compute the BSI: the number of sack lunches served by the St. John’s Episcopal Church sack lunch program, the Sebastian County jobless rate and the Fort Smith metro jobless rate. He uses a commonly accepted method to adjust for seasonality.

The index, produced recently, goes back to September 2003.

LEGION OF SUPPORT
According to notes from Kupchick, the lunch program began in 1986 when Mary Wise noticed a gathering of homeless near the downtown Fort Smith church (215 N. Sixth St.). That first lunch was prepared by a few volunteers and was a lunch sack filled with peanut butter crackers and Vienna sausages.

Some 25 years later, the the annual lunch count has grown to almost 40,000 lunches served in 2010. Also, the group of volunteers has risen to “a legion” of about 125 regular volunteers, Kupchick said.

While the number of lunches has increased, the lunch itself has remained simple. Kupchick provided the following detail on the process and the lunch ingredients:

• Each weekday morning and afternoon, anyone who comes to their Dutch door at 6th and B Streets gets a brown sack.
• Each sack typically contains a single-slice bologna white bread sandwich with mustard (mayonnaise is too expensive), a serving of fruit (a banana or one-quarter of an orange), one treat (animal crackers, vanilla wafers or a “Little Debbie) and a drink (generally shelf stable milk or fruit drink).
• Tom Caldarera (the Caldarera family owns restaurants Emmy’s and Taliano’s) makes soup twice a week to serve.
• One day a week the bologna is switched out for peanut butter and jelly; and on another day, tuna fish.
• A volunteer makes banana muffins once a week from overripe bananas garnered from the River Valley Regional Food Bank’s retail recovery program.

“It’s always been a frugal sack lunch. They aren’t encouraging them to come eat, but they are eating it because they have to,” Kupchick said.

Ling Ling Moorman and Debbie Ashworth often work to provide a menu variant for the Friday lunch. They recently worked up a large batch — about 50 pounds — of potato salad to go along with a hot dog lunch planned for about 200 homeless patrons.

“The last time we did this, I was peeling potatoes until midnight,” Moorman said in an interview with Kupchick.

MORE CHILDREN
The program, in terms of funding and demand, was relatively stable until 2009. During that year, demand jumped by 39%, according to Program Director Jean Kolljeski.

“I learned to expect a jump in demand at the end of each month on Tuesdays and Thursdays as peoples’ checks ran out,” Kolljeski said. “I also learned to expect a bump in the summertime.”

This summer the demand jumped by 50%, with Kolljeski noticing more children in the food line.

“We added fresh milk once a week because of the children,” Kolljeski explained. “Parents have actually come to the window and thanked us for giving their children milk. Imagine a thank you for something as simple as that.”

Kupchick says Judi Stillwell and Linda McDonough are “critical in the process of organizing volunteers, securing contributions, grant writing and sourcing.” The program, he explains, is run by an all-volunteer staff from an alliance of several churches, clubs, civic groups and dedicated individuals. Student groups and holiday help are always in need.

FUNDING PRESSURE
The fear is that the impact of Whirlpool layoffs that may begin in early 2012 will push demand for the sack lunch program beyond what are already unsustainable rates.

Funding, obviously, is the problem.

The program is on a pace to hand out more than 45,000 lunches. But the budget, which is a little less than $30,000 hasn’t changed from when the program handed out less than 40,000 lunches in 2010. “Generous donations” from Mrs. Baird’s bread company and McKesson Foods (Little Debbie) only go so far, Kupchick said.

The Fort Smith metro jobless rate began to tick higher in 2006 and 2007, moderated in 2008, but rose significantly higher in 2009 and 2010. The metro jobless rate rose to 8% during September.

“The question is, ‘With this kind of increased need, what’s it going to take for next year?’” Kupchick said.

Kupchick said funding will need to increase from the “amalgamation of area churches and individual donations” that have kept the program running for 25 years. He also said the River Valley Regional Food Bank will continue to purse “minor grants” and other efforts to provide more food to the program — while also trying to support the growing demand from another more than 200 agencies that receive food from the regional food bank.

Michael Tilley with our content partner, The City Wire, is the author of this article. He can be reached by e-mail at mtilley@thecitywire.com. Some story info submitted by Ken Kupchick, director of marketing and development for the River Valley Regional Food Bank.