August trucking volumes follow July with more growth, reports ATA

August trucking tonnage levels took another positive step, rising for the second consecutive month and the third time in the last 18 months, and hitting its highest level since February 2023, according to data issued today by the American Trucking Associations (ATA).

The ATA’s advanced Seasonally Adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index, at 115.8 (2015=100), headed up 1.8% in August, following an upwardly revised 0.4% July gain, with July’s reading at 113.8. On an annual basis, the August SA reading increased 0.7% annually, marking only the second annual gain over the last 18 months, with the other one coming last May, and marking an improvement over July’s 0.9% annual decrease.

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 119.4 in August, marking a 2.2% gain over July. ATA said that this index is dominated by contract freight rather than spot market freight.

“August tonnage levels rose to the highest level since February 2023,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “Not only does the latest robust gain show freight levels are coming off the bottom, but so does the sequential pattern over the last eight months. Starting earlier this year, every time tonnage falls, it is higher than the previous low. For me, this month-to-month pattern is more important than looking at the year-over-year percent changes since we are at an inflection point in the freight market.”