ARLINGTON, Va. – U.S. for-hire truck tonnage plunged 5.6% in August, following a revised 1.4% decrease in July.
“The August softness suggests that freight is very uneven in the trucking industry,” said ATA chief economist Bob Costello.
“The trucking sectors that haul for the industrial and energy industries are not seeing the surge in freight like the consumer side of the economy. The industrial loads tend to be heavier, so they count more in a tonnage calculation than most consumer-related loads. Fleets hauling for retailers are generally seeing strong freight volumes. Carriers hauling heavier industrial products generally saw softer volumes in August.”
The seasonally-adjusted index was down 8.9% year-over-year, marking the fifth straight y-o-y decline. Year-to-date, tonnage is down 3.4% over the same period in 2019.
