American Trucking Associations announced this week its advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index grew 1.8% in August after rising 0.4% in July.
In August, the index equaled 115.8 compared with 113.8 in July. In calculating the index, 100 represents 2015.
“August tonnage levels rose to the highest level since February 2023,” says ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “Not only does the latest robust gain show freight levels are coming off the bottom, but so does the sequential pattern over the last eight months. Starting earlier this year, every time tonnage falls, it is higher than the previous low.
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Costello adds, “For me, this month-to-month pattern is more important than looking at the year-over-year percent changes since we are at an inflection point in the freight market.”
ATA adds July’s increase also was revised up from its Aug. 20 press release.
Compared with August 2023, the index increased 0.7%, just the second year-over-year gain in the last eighteen months (the other being in May 2024). In July, the index was down 0.9% from a year earlier. ATA adds the not seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equaled 119.4 in August, 2.2% above July.
ATA’s For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index is dominated by contract freight as opposed to traditional spot market freight.
