After dropping 1% in May, the American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index increased 8.7% in June, equaling 115.3 compared with 106.1 in May.

“Not surprisingly, as more states lifted restrictions in June, truck tonnage was robust,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “While the gain in June was the single best month since January 2013, the solid gain was not enough to put tonnage back to pre-pandemic levels, but it is close.”

While the good anecdotal freight reports for July seem to be progressing in a positive manner, according to Costello, there is still concern that “freight could slow as more states reinstate restrictions due to increasing Coronavirus cases.” 

Compared with June 2019, the index dropped 1.3%, the third straight year-over-year decline, but the smallest in the last three months. Year-to-date tonnage is down 2.4% compared with 2019’s numbers.

The not seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equaled 115.5 in June, 5.2% above the May level of 109.8.