US truck freight tonnage declined 0.4% in June, according to the American Trucking Associations' advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index, which slipped to 113.3 from 113.8 in May. The index, based on a 2015 reading of 100, came in 0.1% below the same month a year earlier after falling 1.3% in May.

The not seasonally adjusted index, which measures raw changes in tonnage hauled, registered 114.9 in June, 1.1% below May's 116.2. Year to date, tonnage is running 0.1% ahead of the same period in 2024, a margin that underscores how flat the freight economy has been through the first half of the year.

The second quarter opened with strength, as April tonnage rose both sequentially and from a year earlier. Freight levels then eased in May and June, leaving second quarter tonnage up 0.2% from the first quarter and down 0.2% from the same quarter last year.

ATA economists attributed the mixed picture to small gains in factory output and retail sales, offset by weaker construction activity. Single-family homebuilding in particular has been a drag on freight volumes, cutting into demand for building materials that typically move by truck.

Source: American Trucking Associations - https://www.trucking.org/news-insights/ata-truck-tonnage-index-declined-04-june