ATA June Truck Tonnage Index sees gains

June truck tonnage data issued by the American Trucking Associations earlier today saw gains compared to May.

The ATA’s advanced Seasonally Adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index, for June, came in at 120.1 (2015=100), rising 2.7%, following a 0.3% (downwardly revised from 0.5%) May increase. This was preceded by a 1.4% April decline, which was upwardly revised from an original reading of a 2% decrease. SA tonnage was up 1.8% in March.  

On an annual basis, June SA tonnage increased 7.9%, marking the tenth consecutive annual gain, as well as the largest gain going back to June 2018. The SA index was up 3.5% in May, ATA noted.

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 124.5 in June, topping May’s 119.5 reading by 4.2%.

ATA said its For-Hire Truck tonnage Index is dominated by contract freight rather than spot market freight.

“June’s jump tells me a couple of things: first, the transition in the freight market from spot back to contract continues. ATA’s tonnage index is dominated by contract freight, so while the spot market has slowed as freight softens, contract carriers are backfilling those losses with loads from shippers reducing spot market exposure,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello in a statement. “Essentially, the market is transitioning back to pre-pandemic shares of contract versus spot market.