American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index increased 2.7 percent in June after rising 0.3 percent in May. In June, the index equaled 120.1 (2015=100) versus 116.9 in May.

“June’s jump tells me a couple of things: first, the transition in the freight market from spot back to contract continues. ATA’s tonnage index is dominated by contract freight, so while the spot market has slowed as freight softens, contract carriers are backfilling those losses with loads from shippers reducing spot market exposure," said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. "Essentially, the market is transitioning back to pre-pandemic shares of contract versus spot market.”

“Second, and perhaps equally important, while economic growth is expected to be soft overall in the second quarter, the goods-economy wasn’t as bad as feared," he said.

May’s increase was revised down from the June 21 press release.

Compared with June 2021, the SA index increased 7.9 percent, which was the tenth straight year-over-year gain and the largest since June 2018. In May, the index was up 3.5 percent from a year earlier. During the third quarter, the index rose 1.1 percent from the previous quarter and 4.6 percent from the same quarter in 2021.

The not seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equaled 124.5 in June, 4.2 percent above the May level (119.5). 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.