Economy Improving Slowly: Trucking CEO

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The U.S. economy is in a "tentative" recovery but there are signs it is slowly improving, Schneider National CEO Chris Lofgren told CNBC Tuesday.

Lofgren said he has seen some improvement in port volume month over month, but it has been "growing slower and slower, and so I think it's just an indication that this is a tentative recovery."

His trucking company's business includes intermodal transportation—taking containers off ships and trains and delivering them directly to customers.

"The good news is last week we saw a little bit of an uptick, so maybe there's some better things coming," he added.

Shipping goods to retailers is "a big piece of our business," he said, and the consumer is still "on the sideline" because they've been faced with uncertainty in home values, jobs and the high price of gasoline, which also affects Schneider. Consumers, he said, are "waiting for some good news."

His company has been "very conservative to put capital back to work," Lofgren said. "We've been reinvesting in the [truck] fleet in its current size but we're not yet going to start adding capacity because the demand is just not there yet."