United States truck tonnage fell 2.1% in September

IRU member the American Trucking Associations (ATA) has been calculating the tonnage index based on surveys from its membership since the 1970s.

ATA's advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index fell by 2.1% in September, after rising 1.7% in August. In September, the index equalled 113.2 (2015=100), compared with 115.6 in August.

ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said, "After increasing a total of 2.1% in July and August, tonnage fell by that amount in September.

"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 actually hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equalled 111.6 in September, 6.4% below August. 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 US economy, representing 72.6% of tonnage carried by all modes of domestic freight transport, including manufactured and retail goods. Trucks hauled 11.46 billion tons of freight in 2022. Motor carriers collected USD 940.8 billion, or 80.7% of total revenue earned by all transport modes.

This story was originally published by ATA.