ATA: Truck tonnage topples in October

Trucking activity in the United States fell in October, pushing the level down to the lowest since January, according to new data from American Trucking Associations.

Specifically, truck freight tonnage decreased 2.1% after falling 0.8% in September, ATA reported.

“October’s weakness shows the freight market remains very difficult, dropping the most of any single month since January 2024,” Bob Costello, ATA chief economist, said in a news release. “As a result, the level of freight was the lowest since January 2025. Compared with a year earlier, tonnage experienced its largest decline in 2025.”

ATA’s advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index equaled 111.9 in October, down from 114.3 in September. The index, which is based on 2015 as 100, contracted 1.8% from the same month last year after increasing 0.9% in September.

Year-to-date, compared with the same period in 2024, tonnage was unchanged, ATA added.

The not seasonally adjusted index, which calculates raw changes in tonnage hauled, equaled 119.2 in October, 3.8% above September’s reading of 114.8.

Trucking serves as a barometer of the U.S. economy, representing 72.7% of tonnage carried by all modes of domestic freight transportation, including manufactured and retail goods. Trucks hauled 11.27 billion tons of freight in 2024.*  Motor carriers collected $906 billion, or 76.9% of total revenue earned by all transport modes.

Both indices are dominated by contract freight, as opposed to traditional spot market freight. The tonnage index is calculated on surveys from its membership and has been doing so since the 1970s.