ATA: Truck tonnage slips 0.4% in June

For-hire truck tonnage in the U.S. fell 0.4% in June 2025 after a 0.1% drop in May, the American Trucking Associations said on July 22, 2025.

The numbers

ATA's advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index was 113.3 in June, down from 113.8 in May. The index, based on 2015 as 100, was 0.1% lower than in June 2024, after a 1.3% year-over-year decline in May.

Year to date, tonnage was up 0.1% from the same period of 2024.

The not seasonally adjusted index, which measures raw changes in tonnage hauled, was 114.9 in June, 1.1% below May's 116.2.

The quarter

"After a strong start to the second quarter, with tonnage levels increasing sequentially and from a year earlier in April, freight levels eased in May and June," said Bob Costello, ATA's chief economist.

Costello said truck tonnage was essentially flat in the second quarter, rising 0.2% from the first quarter but falling 0.2% from a year earlier.

Drivers of demand

"Freight levels have been helped recently by small gains in factory output and retail sales, but weaker construction activity, especially for single-family homes, has been a drag on volumes," Costello said.

Context

ATA said trucks represent 72.7% of tonnage carried by all modes of domestic freight transportation, including manufactured and retail goods. Trucks hauled 11.27 billion tons of freight in 2024, and motor carriers collected $906 billion, or 76.9% of total revenue earned by all transport modes, the group said.

The index is calculated from surveys of ATA members. The June figure was preliminary and subject to revision in the final monthly report.

What it meant for carriers

ATA said both its indexes are dominated by contract freight rather than traditional spot market freight. June was the second straight monthly decline in the seasonally adjusted index, which Costello said was essentially flat for the second quarter.