US truck tonnage edged 0.3% higher in March

IRU member the American Trucking Associations (ATA) has been calculating the tonnage index based on surveys from its membership since the 1970s. Here are the results for March 2026.

Trucking activity in the US rose 0.3% in March after surging 2.9% in February, according to ATA's advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index.

ATA Chief Economist and IRU Goods Transport Council Vice President Bob Costello said, "While March wasn't particularly strong sequentially, it was the largest year-on-year increase since October 2022."

"The first quarter of 2026 was also the best performance since the third quarter of 2017 when considering both sequential and year-on-year results," he added.

In March, the ATA advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index equalled 117.0, up from 116.6 in February.

The index, which is based on 2015 as 100, increased 3% from the same month in 2025, the largest year-on-year gain since October 2022. During the first three months of the year, tonnage was up 2.1% from the same period last year. In 2025, the tonnage index was flat compared to the 2024 average.

The not seasonally adjusted index, which calculates raw changes in tonnage hauled, equalled 120.1 in March, 12% above February's reading of 107.3.

Both indices are dominated by contract freight, as opposed to traditional spot market freight. Trucking serves as a barometer of the US economy, representing 72.7% of tonnage carried by all modes of domestic freight transport, including manufactured and retail goods. Trucks hauled 11.27 billion tons of freight in 2024. Motor carriers collected USD 906 billion, or 76.9% of total revenue earned by all transport modes.

This story was originally published by ATA.