American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index contracted 1 percent in May after falling 10.3 percent in April. In May, the index equaled 106.1 compared with 107.2 in April.

"While tonnage fell in May, even though other economic indicators like retail sales and housing starts rose, I'm not overly concerned," said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. "First, while down over 10 percent sequentially in April, truck tonnage did not fall as much as other economic indicators that month. This means that any rebound is tougher since tonnage didn't fall substantially to begin with. Second, there are indications that freight continues to improve as more and more states and localities lift lockdown restrictions."
 
April's drop was revised up to -10.3 percent from the 12.2 percent decline reported on May 19. Compared with May 2019, the SA index contracted 9.6 percent, the largest year-over-year decline since 2009 during the depths of the Great Recession, although the index is not falling quite as much as during that economic downturn. For example, in April 2009, the index was off 14 percent from a year earlier. The latest drop was preceded by a 9.4 percent year-over-year drop in April. Year-to-date, compared with the same period in 2019, tonnage is down 2.6 percent.
 
"While the overall economy will likely take more than a year to recover, assuming the pandemic doesn't spike again, the trucking industry could recover back to pre-COVID levels before many other industries because it hasn't fallen as much," Costello said. "As retail sales improve and housing starts recover, that will help trucking. The risk for trucking is that the virus surges again and places start to shut back down again."
 
The not seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equaled 109.8 in May, 2.8 percent above the April level (106.9). In calculating the index, 100 represents 2015. ATA's For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index is dominated by contract freight as opposed to spot market freight.