American Trucking Associations advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index saw a nice increase in July and despite a rollercoaster-like movement the past few months, it continues an upward trend this year.

The TTI jumped to 122.7 in July,  a 6.6% increase compared to aa5.1 in June. The index had declined in June by 1.2%. ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said that while spot freight has been down this year. The TTI is dominated by contract freight, which has been performing well in 2019.

“Tonnage in 2019 has been on a rollercoaster ride, plagued with large monthly swings, which continued in July as tonnage surged after falling significantly in May and June,” Costello. However, take out the month-to-month noise, and you see that truck tonnage is still on a nice upward path.”

Year-over-year comparisons were also favorable this month, with July 2019 surging 7.3% compared to July of last year. This represents the largest year-over-year gain since April.

The not seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equaled 122.8 in July, 4.5% above June level of 117.5. For comparative purposes, in ATA’s index a reading of 100 represents truck tonnage for the year 2015.