ATA: Truck Tonnage Decreases in November – Fleet Management

American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index decreased 2.5% in November after slipping 1.2% in October. In November, the index equaled 114.7 versus 117.6 in October.

“For-hire truck tonnage saw the largest single monthly decrease in November since the start of the pandemic and a total drop of 3.7% in October and November,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello in a press release. “The decreases match anecdotal reports of a soft fall freight season as well as a slowing goods-economy generally. Housing-related freight is particularly weak.”

Compared with November 2021, the index increased 0.8%, which was the fifteenth straight year-over-year gain, but the smallest over that period.

In October, the index was up 4% from a year earlier.

Year-to-date through November, compared with the same period in 2021, tonnage was up 3.7%. The not seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equaled 114.6 in November, 4.6% below the October level (120.2).

In calculating the index, 100 represents 2015.  ATA’s For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index is dominated by contract freight as opposed to spot market freight.