American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index decreased 1.8% in August after increasing 1.9% in July. In August, the index equaled 112.9 (2015=100), down from 115 in July.
Compared with August 2017, the SA index rose 4.5%, down from July’s 8.6% year-over-year increase. Year-to-date, compared with the same period last year, tonnage increased 7.6%, far outpacing the annual gain of 3.8% in 2017.
“Truck freight remained solid in August despite the monthly decline,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “However, the year-over-year increase was the smallest since July 2017. The deceleration in the year-over-year increases has begun due to more difficult year-over-year comparisons. It was a year ago when freight began to surge. We should all expect smaller year-over-year gains going forward than we witnessed over the last year.”
The not seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equaled 120.4 in August, which was 5% above the previous month (114.6).