The American Trucking Associations' advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index decreased 2.1% in September after rising 1.7% in August, the associations announced Tuesday.
"Freight has been very choppy this year, but despite the latest drop, tonnage is up 1.8% since hitting a low in January," says ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. "No doubt, the climb has been slow and difficult as manufacturing activity remains flat, but the trend is up, not down."
The ATA revised August's increase down slightly in the latest release. The index is not seasonally adjusted and represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by the fleets. It is dominated by contract freight as opposed to spot market freight, the ATA says.
ATA calculates the tonnage index based on surveys from its membership. It says trucking serves as a barometer of the U.S. economy, representing 72.6% of tonnage carried by all modes of domestic freight transportation, including manufactured and retail goods. In 2022, trucks hauled 11.46 billion tons of freight, collecting $940.8 billion.