Truck tonnage levels see October gains, reports ATA

Truck tonnage readings saw gains in October, according to data issued today by the American Trucking Associations (ATA).

The ATA’s advanced Seasonally Adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index for October—at 113 (2015=100)—eked out a 0.4% increase, following a 2.2% September increase.

On an annual basis, October’s SA tonnage reading rose 1.8%, representing the largest annual gain going back to May. ATA said it topped October’s 1.4% annual gain. On a year-to-date basis, SA tonnage is up 0.1% compared to the first 10 months of 2020.

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, for October, came in 115.8, topping September by 2.6%.

“October’s gain was the third straight totaling 2.9%,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello in a statement. “The combination of solid retail sales, inventory rebuilding, and generally higher factory output offset some areas of softer freight growth, like home construction, in October. Economic growth remains on solid footing, which is good for truck freight volumes going forward. The largest problem for the industry isn’t the amount of demand, but making sure we have adequate supply. It is good to see that fleets were able to haul more tonnage in recent months in the face of constrained supply.”