Freight demand is showing its clearest recovery in years. The American Trucking Associations reported that its seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index reached 117.9 in April, up 3.5 percent from a year earlier, with tonnage posting its largest year-over-year gain in more than three years during the first quarter and the best quarterly result in nearly a decade. Activity is running at its highest level since 2022.

The scale of the industry remains substantial. Trucks moved 11.27 billion tons of freight in 2024, and the sector employed 8.4 million people in trucking-related jobs, including 3.58 million professional drivers. Revenue reached $906 billion in 2024.

The structure of the industry underscores how much of that work runs through small operators. According to the ATA, 91.5 percent of carriers operate 10 or fewer trucks, and 99.3 percent run fewer than 100 power units. That fragmentation means freight recoveries and downturns ripple quickly across tens of thousands of independent businesses.

The tonnage rebound follows a prolonged soft market that pressured carrier margins and thinned capacity. As demand firms, fleets that held on through the downturn are positioned to capture freight as it returns to the network.

Source: American Trucking Associations - https://www.trucking.org/news-insights/ata-american-trucking-trends-2025