ATA: Truck tonnage decreases 2% in March

American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index declined 2% in March after increasing 4% in February.

In March, the index equaled 113.4 (2015=100) compared with 115.7 in February, ATA reported.

“Tonnage in March suggests that truck freight volumes remain lackluster, and it is clear the truck freight recession continued through the first quarter,” Bob Costello, ATA chief economist, said in a news release. “In the first three months of 2024, ATA’s tonnage index contracted 0.8% from the previous quarter and declined 2.4% from a year earlier, highlighting ongoing challenges the industry is navigating.”

Compared with March 2023, the index fell 1%, which was the 13th consecutive year-over-year decline, but the second smallest over that period. In February, the index was down 1.7% from a year earlier.

The not-seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equaled 114.4 in March, 4.7% higher than in February, ATA added. ATA’s For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index is dominated by contract freight as opposed to spot market freight.

In calculating the index, 100 represents 2015.

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. Trucks hauled 11.46 billion tons of freight in 2022. Motor carriers collected $940.8 billion, or 80.7% of total revenue earned by all transport modes.

ATA calculates the tonnage index based on surveys from its membership and has been doing so since the 1970s.