May truck tonnage sees a slight gain, reports ATA

Truck tonnage eked out a gain in May, according to data issued this week by the American Trucking Associations (ATA).

The ATA’s advanced Seasonally Adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index, for May, came in at 117.1 (2015=100), following a 1.4% April decline, which was upwardly revised from an original reading of a 2% decrease. SA tonnage was up 1.8% in March.  

On an annual basis, May SA tonnage saw a 3.7% annual gain, marking the ninth consecutive month SA tonnage was up annually, as well as being the largest annual gain going back to April 2021. April’s SA tonnage was up 2.5% annually. And on a year-to-date basis through May, SA tonnage was up 2.7%.

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 119.7 (2015=100) in May, topping April’s 114.8 by 4.2%.

ATA said its For-Hire Truck tonnage Index is dominated by contract freight rather than spot market freight.

“The transition in the freight market continued in May with the index hitting the second highest level since the pandemic started. Specifically on the market transition, ATA’s tonnage index is dominated by contract freight. The traditional spot market has slowed as freight softens, but these contract carriers are backfilling any losses in freight with loads from shippers that is reducing spot market exposure,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello in a statement. “Essentially the market is transitioning back to pre-pandemic shares of contract versus spot market.”