American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index decreased 1.1% in September after rising 0.2% in August. In September, the index equaled 113.9 (2015 = 100) compared with 115.2 in August.

“After hitting a bottom in April, tonnage increased in three of the previous four months, gaining a total of 2.2% before September’s drop,” said Bob Costello, ATA chief economist. “However, this freight market remains in flux, and the index contracted by 1.1% in September, which erased half of those gains.

"Additionally, the year-over-year decrease was the largest drop since November 2020 on a very difficult comparison – September 2022 – which was the previous cycle high.”

Costello: What it Will Take to Get Freight Back in Balance

Costello said it is likely a bottom has been hit in truck freight tonnage, but there could still be “choppy waters ahead as the freight market remains volatile.”

August’s increase was unchanged from ATA’s September 19 press release.

Compared with September 2022, the SA index fell 4.1%, which was the seventh straight year-over-year decrease and the largest over that period. In August, the index was down 2.4% from a year earlier.

The not-seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equaled 112.5 in September, 6.8% below the August level (120.7). In calculating the index, 100 represents 2015. ATA’s For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index is dominated by contract freight as opposed to spot market freight.

ATA calculates the tonnage index based on surveys from its membership and has been doing so since the 1970s.