Truck tonnage ekes out small gain to finish 2022, reports ATA

December truck tonnage data, which was issued this week by the American Trucking Associations (ATA) saw gains to finish 2022.

The ATA’s advanced Seasonally Adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index, for December, came in at 115.2 (2015=100), for a 0.4% gain over November, which was off 2.5% compared to October. ATA also noted that calendar year 2022 tonnage rose 3.4%, marking the highest annual increase going back to 2018.

On an annual basis, the December SA index saw a 0.3% annual gain, marking the 16th consecutive annual increase, albeit the smallest increase over that period. The November SA index posted a 0.8% annual gain.   

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, was 112.6 in December, which was down 1.8% compared to November’s 114.6. ATA bases its NSA tonnage reading on a baseline with 100 representing 2015, adding that its For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index dominated by contract freight as opposed to spot market freight.

“Despite the small gain in December, for-hire truck tonnage clearly decelerated during the final quarter in 2022,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello a statement. “In fact, tonnage outperformed some other key metrics that drive truck freight, like housing starts and factory output during the final month of the year. This is probably because contract truckload freight is still outperforming the spot market and less-than-truckload freight after underperforming both of those sectors in 2021. Despite weakening in the second half, 2022 overall was a solid year for truck freight tonnage. The index’s yearly gains were primarily driven by strength in the first half of 2022, so despite a marked slowdown as the year ended, for the year as a whole, tonnage posted a very solid year overall.”