American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index increased 0.3% in July after declining 1.8% in June.
In July, the index equaled 113.7 compared with 113.3 in June, ATA reported.
“While July wasn’t a strong month, we see continued evidence that the truck freight market is likely turning a corner, albeit slowly,” Bob Costello, ATA chief economist, said in a news release. “Some of July’s small gain was likely due to strong import activity, especially at West Coast seaports. Decent retail sales and factory output growing slightly from a year earlier also helped truck tonnage last month.”
Compared with July 2023, the index decreased 0.9%. In June, the index was down 0.6% from a year earlier.
The not-seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equaled 116.7 in July, 3.4% above June. ATA’s For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index is dominated by contract freight as opposed to traditional 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.