American Trucking Associations

ATA officials said that the turnover rate for truckload carriers with more than $30 million in annual revenue headed up 10% to 92% on an annualized basis, while the turnover rate for smaller truckload carriers saw a 14% increase to 74%. Even with these gains, ATA observed that that average turnover rate for 2020 is lagging 2019. And less-than-truckload (LTL) saw the annualized turnover rate increase 2%, to 14%.

With the outcome of the election all but certain, at this point, there is now a pivot to the future, in many ways, especially on the freight transportation front. One area in which this has a freight transportation-related policy tone is surface transportation infrastructure, which was the focus of a webcast hosted earlier this week by Washington, D.C.-based law firm Venable LLP.

Build back better? The freight transportation world certainly hopes so. Following his decisive victory, President-elect Joe Biden started receiving congratulatory messages from the freight transportation world.

The ATA’s advanced Seasonally Adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index for September—115.1 (2015=100)—headed up 6.7% over August, following a 5.3% decline (revised from an original reading of 5.6%), from July to August and a 1.4% decrease, from June to July. On an annual basis, September SA tonnage was off 2.7%, marking the sixth consecutive month of annual declines, with SA tonnage down 3.3% on a year-to-date basis through September.

The ATA’s advanced Seasonally Adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index for September—115.1 (2015=100)—headed up 6.7% over August, following a 5.3% decline (revised from an original reading of 5.6%), from July to August and a 1.4% decrease, from June to July. On an annual basis, September SA tonnage was off 2.7%, marking the sixth consecutive month of annual declines, with SA tonnage down 3.3% on a year-to-date basis through September.

The “Freight Transportation Forecast: 2020 to 2031,” was released this week by the American Trucking Associations (ATA) and conducted by IHS Markit. This publication is described by the ATA as an annual projection of the state of the freight economy.

ATA reported that the truckload carrier turnover rate, for carriers with more than $30 million in annual revenue, decreased 12%, to 82%, which represents the lowest level going back to the end of 2018. And it added that the turnover rate, for smaller truckload carriers, was off 10%, to 60%, marking its lowest quarterly level going back to the fourth quarter of 2011. On the less-than-truckload (LTL) side, the second quarter annualized turnover rate was flat, at 12%.

In a controversial move that almost certainly will rile up anti-truck safety advocates, the federal government is moving ahead with a three-year pilot program that will allow some under-21 drivers to work in interstate commerce.

Leading trucking executives and analysts say they are pleasantly surprised by the strength in freight demand coming out of the COVID-19-induced economic shutdown in early summer. It’s slightly better if your company is hauling retail goods as the industrial economy remains so-so. But overall, top trucking executives are reporting their trucks are mostly filled heading into the fall peak season.

On an annual basis, June SA tonnage dipped 1.3%, marking the third straight annual SA decline, which, while down, marked an improvement over May’s 9.6% annual decline, which represented the largest annual decline going back to 2009 during the Great Recession of 2008-2009, with the caveat that SA tonnage is not falling at the same rate as it was during that period.

The ATA’s advanced SA For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index for May—at 106.1 (2015=100)—was down 1% in May, following a 10.3% (downwardly revised from -12.2%) April decrease, which came in 107.2.

The ATA’s advanced seasonally-adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index for April—at 104.9 (2015=100)— fell 12.2%, following a 0.4% March gain, which was downwardly revised from an initial reading of a 1.2% increase. This came on the heels of a 1.8% February gain over January, which came in at 119. On an annual basis, the April SA reading was off 11.3%, which ATA said represents the largest annual decline going back to April 2009. March’s annual SA decline, by comparison, was 3.5%, and on a year-to-date basis through...

It is pretty fair to say that the first quarter United States GDP number was going to be dismal. And now that presumption has become a reality, with the first quarter advanced estimate GDP tally, which was released today by the United States Department of Commerce, coming in at -4.8%, its lowest reading going back to the Great Recession period of 2008 and 2009 (and well off from the fourth quarter of 2019’s 2.1% GDP reading), as well as marking the first quarterly...

The ATA’s advanced seasonally-adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index for March—at 120.4 (2015=100)—saw a 1.2% increase. And 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 120.9 in March, topping February’s 108.2 reading by 11.2%.

The ATA’s advanced seasonally-adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index for January—at 117.4 (2015=100)—saw a 0.1% increase from December to January, and 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 114.6 in January, marking a 1.1% improvement over December.