The final five months of 2021 topped off a banner year in for-hire truck tonnage growth.
A report published by the American Trucking Associations (ATA) indicates 2021 went out on a high note as the advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index increased 1 percent in December. The year-end growth came on the heel of four previous months of consecutive increases, with November posting a 0.5 percent uptick.
“December’s gain was the fifth straight totaling 4.4 percent,” ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello reportedly stated. “In December, tonnage reached the highest level since March, but it was still 2.7 percent below the pre-pandemic high. 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.”
A comparison with the previous year shows an SA index that climbed by 1.4 percent above December 2020, marking the fourth consecutive year-over-year gain for that month. November saw a similar 1.6 percent gain from 2020 to 2021. November’s gains were reportedly the best since April when tonnage steadily declined, bottoming out in July before ramping up through the end of the year.
“November’s gain was the fourth straight, totaling 4.3 percent, and the tonnage level was the highest since April,” Costello reportedly said at the time. “The recent streak is very good, but it should be noted that from April through July the index fell a total of 4.6 percent, so we are not quite back to where we were last spring.”
The winning streak points to sizable for-hire growth that truckers may be able to take advantage of throughout 2022. When comparing November 2021 with November 2020, the SA index surged to hit 2.5 percent. That figure represents one of the largest year-over-year increases.
The for-hire tonnage index posted steady improvements from 2017 into 2019, peaking in July of that year. Substantial reductions led to an April 2020 low, after which growth has been volatile with several monthly downturns. The overall forecast points to a return to seasonal highs unless further supply chain disruptions occur.
“Trucking serves as a barometer of the U.S. economy, representing 72.5 percent of tonnage carried by all modes of domestic freight transportation, including manufactured and retail goods. Trucks hauled 10.23 billion tons of freight in 2020. Motor carriers collected $732.3 billion, or 80.4 percent of total revenue earned by all transport modes,” the ATA reports. The “ATA calculates the tonnage index based on surveys from its membership and has been doing so since the 1970s.”
Sources: truckinginfo.com, prnewswire.com
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