ATA: Truck Tonnage in March Drops – Fleet Administration

American Trucking Associations’ superior seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Rent Truck Tonnage Index fell 5.4% in March after rising 0.9% in February.

“After rising a complete of two.6% through the three earlier months, March’s sequential decline was the most important month-to-month drop since April 2020 through the begin of the pandemic,” mentioned ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello in a press launch. “Falling house building, reducing manufacturing facility output and gentle retail gross sales all harm contract freight tonnage – which dominates ATA’s tonnage index – through the month. Regardless of the most important year-over-year drop since October 2020, contract freight stays extra strong than the spot market, which continues to see extended weak point.”

In March, the index equaled 111.6 in contrast with 118 in February. 

In contrast with March 2022, the index decreased 5%, which was the primary year-over-year lower since August 2021. In February, the index was up 1.9% from a yr earlier. Throughout the first quarter, tonnage was 0.6% beneath the identical three month interval in 2022.

The not seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage truly hauled by the fleets earlier than any seasonal adjustment, equaled 117.2 in March, 9.3% above the February stage (107.2). In calculating the index, 100 represents 2015.

ATA’s For-Rent Truck Tonnage Index is dominated by contract freight versus spot market freight. ATA calculates the tonnage index based mostly on surveys from its membership and has been doing so for the reason that Nineteen Seventies.