ATA: Truck Tonnage edges up in December

Trucking activity in the United States increased slightly in December, but volumes remained at low levels after significant declines in September and October, according to new data from American Trucking Associations.

Specifically, truck freight tonnage increased 0.4% after rising 0.2% in November.

“Despite two consecutive gains, tonnage remains at low levels as the freight metric contracted a total of 2.7% in September and October,” Bob Costello, ATA chief economist, said in a news release. “Soft manufacturing and construction activity are continuing to suppress freight levels, as they did for much of last year.

“For 2025 in total, tonnage rose just 0.1% over the 2024 average, although it was the first annual gain since 2022.”

In December, ATA’s advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index equaled 112.9, up from 112.4 in November. The index, which is based on 2015 as 100, increased 0.9% from the same month in 2024 after decreasing the two previous months on a year-over-year basis, ATA reported. For Q4, the average fell 1.8% from Q3 in the largest sequential quarterly decline since Q2 2023—and it was down 0.3% from the final three months in 2024.

The not-seasonally adjusted index, which calculates raw changes in tonnage hauled, equaled 111.9 in December, 4.3% above November’s reading of 107.3.

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 (including forecasts). 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.