Every month, truck tonnage is reported and released by American Trucking Associations’ For-Hire-Truck Tonnage Index. The latest report shows truck tonnage soared in June 7.9% above the same month last year. The index equaled 120.1 in June versus 116.9 in May.
Bob Costello, the chief economist at ATA, says that the jump indicates a few things. “First, the transition in the freight market from spot back to a contract continues. ATA’s tonnage index is dominated by contract freight, so while the spot market has slowed as freight softens, contract carriers are backfilling those losses with loads from shippers reducing spot market exposure. Essentially, the market is transitioning back to pre-pandemic shares of contract versus spot market.” He continued to reassure us that while economic growth is expected to be soft in the second quarter, the goods economy was not as bad as industry experts had feared.
Trucking is a “barometer” of the United States economy with 72.5% of tonnage carried by all modes of domestic freight transportation. Click here for the full story.
