Trucking tonnage finishes 2023 with worst results since 2020

Trucking tonnage ticked up slightly in December, but the increase was not enough to avoid racking up the industry’s worst year since 2020, the American Trucking Associations (ATA) said today.

The ATA’s advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index increased 2.1% in December after falling 1.4% in November. Compared with December 2022, the SA index fell 0.5%, which was the tenth straight year-over-year decrease.

“While 2023 ended on a better note, truck tonnage remained in a recession as it continued to fall on a year-over-year basis,” ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said in a release. “With that said, for-hire contract freight, which is what comprises our index, in December was 2.6% above the trough in April. For the entire year, tonnage contracted 1.7% from 2022 levels. This makes 2023 the worst annual reading since 2020 when the index fell 4% from 2019, and the only year since 2020 that tonnage contracted.”