ATA: Truck Tonnage Level Highest Since April

American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index increased 1.3% in November after rising 0.4% in October. In November, the index equaled 114.5 compared with 113 in October.

“November’s gain was the fourth straight, totaling 4.3%, and the tonnage level was the highest since April,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello in a press release. “The recent streak is very good, but it should be noted that from April through July the index fell a total of 4.6%, so we are not quite back to where we were last spring.”

Still, the index recorded the largest gain from a year earlier since May.

“In November, strong factory output and housing starts helped push the index higher," Costello said.

Compared with November 2020, the SA index rose 2.5%, which was the largest year-over-year gain since May. In October, the index was up 1.8% from a year earlier. Year-to-date, compared with the same eleven months in 2020, tonnage is up 0.3%.

The not seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equaled 114.7 in November, 0.9% below the October level (115.8).