March trucking volumes are mixed, reports ATA

The American Trucking Associations (ATA) reported today that truck tonnage volumes in March were again mixed.

The ATA’s advanced seasonally-adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index dropped 1.1% from February to March to 110 (2015=100), following a 0.8% (revised from a 2.6% decline) January to February decline.

ATA said March’s SA reading was up 6.3% annually, down from February’s 7.7% annual gain. Despite the decline, this was ahead of calendar year 2017’s 3.8% annual increase over 2016. For the first quarter, ATA said that SA tonnage was 0.9% ahead of the fourth quarter of 2017 and up 7.4% annually.

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 at 114.6 in March and 12.9% higher than February. Compared to March 2017, March NSA tonnage was down 20.4% annually.

“Despite a softer March and February, truck freight tonnage remains solid as exhibited in the year-over-year increase of 6.3%,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello in a statement. “While I expect the pace of growth to continue moderating in the months ahead, if for no other reason than  year-over-year comparisons will become more difficult as tonnage snapped back in May of 2017, the levels of freight will remain good going forward.”