American shippers had worst October in four years

Bloated inventories and weak trade making it difficult for truckers, railroads

American truckers have developed a slow leak.

U.S. shipments as measured by the latest Cass Freight Index dropped 5.3 percent last month from a year ago, making it the worst October since 2011. The year-over-year decline was the eighth straight and the biggest since November 2009. Trucks transport almost 70 percent of the nation’s freight by weight, according to American Trucking Associations.

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