American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index decreased 2.1% in September after rising 1.7% in August.
In September, the index equaled 113.2 (2015=100) compared with 115.6 in August, ATA reported.
“After increasing a total of 2.1% in July and August, tonnage fell by that amount in September,” Bob Costello, ATA chief economist, said in a news release. “Freight has been very choppy this year, but despite the latest drop, tonnage is up 1.8% since hitting a low in January.
“No doubt, the climb up has been slow and difficult as manufacturing activity remains flat, but the trend is up, not down.”
Compared with September 2023, the index fell 0.9%, after rising 0.6% in August from a year earlier.
The not seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage hauled by fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equaled 111.6 in September, 6.4% below August, ATA added. 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.