The American Trucking Associations advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index fell 2 percent in May 2026, following a 0.9 percent decline in April. The index closed the month at 114.4 on a basis where 2015 equals 100.

The May reading still came in 0.6 percent above the same month in 2025, which places the year over year comparison in positive territory even as the monthly trend turned down. April told a different story, with the index at 117.8 and a year over year gain of 3.5 percent, the strongest annual comparison of the year to that point.

The two month slide reversed a strong opening quarter. Tonnage gained a combined 4.7 percent across January, February, and March, with February alone surging 2.6 percent. The 2.9 percent give back across April and May left the first five months of 2026 up 2 percent against the same stretch of 2025.

The index measures physical tonnage hauled by for-hire carriers rather than revenue billed, which removes rate and fuel surcharge movement from the reading. That construction makes it a volume gauge, and the May decline points to softer freight volume moving through contract fleets rather than a pricing shift.

Spot market data has run in the opposite direction over the same period, with truckload spot rates including fuel holding near $2.80 per mile nationally, roughly 23 percent above the $2.33 per mile average a year earlier.

Source: American Trucking Associations - https://www.trucking.org/news-insights/ata-truck-tonnage-index-fell-2-may