The American Trucking Associations recently released a report that shows the seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index improved in February and March.
Rounding out the first quarter of 2022, the freight hauling industry appears to be thriving even as rates decline. Deep dives into American Trucking Associations (ATA) index also demonstrate significant year-over-year gains.
“It is important to note that ATA’s for-hire tonnage data is dominated by contract freight with minimal amounts of spot market loads,” ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello reportedly said. “And clearly contract freight was solid in March, witnessing the largest sequential gain since May 2020. March was also the eighth straight month-to-month improvement, with a total increase of 7.4 percent over that period.”
For-hire tonnage rose by 2.4 percent during March after a modest uptick of 0.7 percent in February, rounding out a first quarter that posted growth over the fourth quarter of 2021 and the same period last year.
“During the first quarter, the index rose 2.4 percent from the final quarter of 2021 and increased 2.6 percent from a year earlier. While there might be some recent softness in the spot market, for-hire contract freight tonnage remains solid and is only limited by lack of capacity, both drivers and equipment, at contract fleets,” Costello reportedly said.
A monthly comparison of March 2022 and 2021 shows a 3.8-percent increase, the largest year-over-year gain for that month. February comparisons also highlighted a 3.2 percent improvement. These are strong, stable numbers when considering the fact December 2021 saw sluggish, nominal growth of only 1 percent following a constrained 0.5 percent in November. Although the final quarter of 2021 was less than inspiring, the ATA concluded that overall for-hire tonnage improved on the year.
“December’s gain was the fifth straight totaling 4.4 percent. In December, tonnage reached the highest level since March, but it was still 2.7 percent below the pre-pandemic high,” Costello reportedly said at the time. “This is likely due to the fact ATA’s data is dominated by contract freight. Contractor truckload carriers operated fewer trucks in 2021 compared with 2020, and it is difficult to haul significantly more tonnage with fewer trucks. But overall, we have seen a nice trend up that is reflective of a still-growing goods economy.”
The ATA contends that trucking ranks among the primary economic measures because 72.5 percent of all tonnage transported in the U.S. finds its way to the back of a big rig. In 2020, truckers moved 10.23 billion tons, motor carriers took in $732.3 billion, which equals 80.4 percent of all revenue generated by modes of freight transportation. The ATA has been working diligently to calculate this and other indexes since 1970.
Sources: trucking.org, prnewswire.com
That’s interesting. My cousin drives for XPO and here in NW PA, they are asking drivers to volunteer taking “days off” due to ‘lack of freight’.