American Trucking Associations’ (ATA) seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index increased 0.3% in July after declining 1.8% in June. In July, the index equaled 113.7 (2015=100) compared with 113.3 in June.

“While July wasn’t a strong month, we see continued evidence that the truck freight market is likely turning a corner, albeit slowly,” Bob Costello, chief economist of ATA, said. “Some of July’s small gain was likely due to strong import activity, especially at West Coast seaports. Decent retail sales and factory output growing slightly from a year earlier also helped truck tonnage last month.”

Compared with July 2023, the index decreased 0.9%. In June, the index was down 0.6% from a year earlier.

The not seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equaled 116.7 in July, 3.4% above June. ATA’s For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index is dominated by contract freight as opposed to traditional spot market freight.

In calculating the index, 100 represents 2015.