Truck tonnage sees March declines, reports ATA

A stretch of monthly truck tonnage gains came to a halt in March, according to data recently issued by theAmerican Trucking Associations (ATA).

The ATA’s advanced Seasonally Adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index, for March, came in at 111.6 (2015=100), marking a 5.4% decrease compared to February, which was up 0.9% over January.

On an annual basis, the March SA fell 5%, marking its first annual decline going back to August 2021, following 18 consecutive months of gains. This was preceded by a 1.9% annual gain in February. And, for the first quarter, SA tonnage was down 0.6% compared to the same period a year ago.

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, came in at 117.2 in March, topping February’s 107.2 reading by 9.3%

ATA bases its NSA tonnage reading on a baseline with 100 representing 2015, adding that its For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index dominated by contract freight as opposed to spot market freight.

“After increasing a total of 2.6% during the three previous months, March’s sequential decline was the largest monthly drop since April 2020 during the start of the pandemic,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello in a statement. “Falling home construction, decreasing factory output and soft retail sales all hurt contract freight tonnage—which dominates ATA’s tonnage index—during the month. Despite the largest year-over-year drop since October 2020, contract freight remains more robust than the spot market, which continues to see prolonged weakness.”