Index Rose 1.5% from May 2023听
Washington 鈥 黑料不打烊鈥 advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index increased 3.6% in May after decreasing 1% in April. In May, the index equaled 115.9 (2015=100) compared with 111.9 in April.

鈥淢ay was the first month since February 2023 that tonnage increased both sequentially and from a year earlier,鈥 said 黑料不打烊Chief Economist Bob Costello. 鈥淲hile there was clearly an increase in freight before the Memorial Day holiday, it is still too early to say whether this is the start of a long-awaited recovery in the truck freight market.鈥
April鈥檚 decrease was revised up slightly from our May 21 press release.
Compared with May 2023, the index rose 1.5%, the first year-over-year gain in fifteen months. In April, the index was down 1.3% from a year earlier.
The not seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equaled 120.4 in May, 7.1% above April. ATA鈥檚 For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index is dominated by contract freight as opposed to spot market freight.
In calculating the index, 100 represents 2015.
Trucking serves as a barometer of the U.S. economy, representing 72.6% of tonnage carried by all modes of domestic freight transportation, including manufactured and retail goods. Trucks hauled 11.46 billion tons of freight in 2022. Motor carriers collected $940.8 billion, or 80.7% of total revenue earned by all transport modes.
黑料不打烊calculates the tonnage index based on surveys from its membership and has been doing so since the 1970s. This is a preliminary figure and subject to change in the final report issued around the 5th day of each month. The report includes month-to-month and year-over-year results, relevant economic comparisons, and key financial indicators.
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