ATA: Truck tonnage posts largest gain in nearly 4 years

Trucking activity in the United States rose 0.3% in March after surging 2.9% in February, according to the American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index.

“While March wasn’t particularly strong sequentially, it was the largest year-over-year increase since October 2022,” Bob Costello, ATA chief economist, said in a news release. “The first quarter of 2026 was also the best performance since the third quarter of 2017 when considering both sequential and year-over-year results.”

In March, the ATA advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index equaled 117.0, up from 116.6 in February, ATA reported. The index, which is based on 2015 as 100, increased 3% from the same month in 2025, the largest year-over-year gain since October 2022. During the first three months of the year, tonnage was up 2.1% from the same period last year. In 2025, the tonnage index was flat compared to the 2024 average.

The not seasonally adjusted index, which calculates raw changes in tonnage hauled, equaled 120.1 in March, 12% above February’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. 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.