Trucking Experiences Increase in Tonnage
The American Trucking Associations (ATA) reported on June 18th that the trucking industry has experienced a year-over-year increase of tonnage for May 2024, meaning that 1.5% more weight was shipped in May 2024 than May 2023.
Details
The ATA Truck Tonnage Index is a quick rule of thumb to see how the trucking industry is doing, and this news, which also includes a 3.6% increase month-over-month from April 2024, indicates that the trucking industry is experiencing something of a second wind going into the second half of the year.
“May was the first month since February 2023 that tonnage increased both sequentially and from a year earlier,” ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said, who is optimistic about the numbers, but cautiously so. “While 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.”
The Index is a simple metric: 100 is the total tonnage of shipments made in 2015, and with it being at 115.9, there is 15.9% more goods by weight being shipped than there was a decade ago. Numerous factors play into this, some positive such as increased demand, while others like miniaturization of technology have a negative impact on the Index.
Conclusion
Generally speaking, the trucking industry is constantly rising in how many goods it is shipping, when measured by weight. Even during the initial shock of the COVID-19 pandemic when everything was shutting down, the Index stayed above 105, signaling that even the worst of 2020 was higher than the average for 2015. It will be interesting to see where the Index moves in the future months, and in 2025, when there is potential for a change in which party holds the executive branch of the United States. Changes to the political landscape may just have implications on the trucking industry as a whole, ranging from fuel prices to regulation, but as with most things, we will have to wait and see what happens in the next 12 months.
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