December Truck tonnage ends 2023 with a modest gain, reports ATA

December truck tonnage volumes headed up after a November decline, according to data issued by the American Trucking Associations (ATA) this week.

The ATA’s advanced Seasonally Adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index, for December, at 115.7 (2015=100), was up 2.1%, following 1.2% November decline.

On an annual basis, the December SA reading decreased 0.5%, marking the tenth straight annual monthly decrease, following November’s 1.6% annual decrease.

The ATA’s not seasonally-adjusted (NSA) index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by fleets before any seasonal adjustment and the metric ATA says fleets should benchmark their levels with, came in at 110.7 in December, trailing November’s 112.8 reading by 1.9%. ATA’s For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index is dominated by contract freight as opposed to spot market freight.

“While 2023 ended on a better note, truck tonnage remained in a recession as it continued to fall on a year-over-year basis,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello in a statement. “With that said, for-hire contract freight, which is what comprises our index, in December was 2.6% above the trough in April. For the entire year, tonnage contracted 1.7% from 2022 levels. This makes 2023 the worst annual reading since 2020 when the index fell 4% from 2019, and the only year since 2020 that tonnage contracted.”