The American Trucking Associations' advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index measured 117.8 in April 2026, unchanged from March but still holding near its highest reading since the fall of 2022, according to the trade association's latest tonnage report.
The index rose 3.5% compared to April 2025, a slight deceleration from March's 3.7% year-over-year gain. Tonnage is up 2.6% for the first four months of 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier, and the index has climbed a cumulative 4.7% since the end of 2025 without a single monthly decline so far this year.
ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said the unchanged April reading is notable given the strength of the comparison, since the index has not slipped in 2026 despite a flat 2025 compared to 2024.
Trucking remains the dominant mode for domestic freight movement in the United States, carrying 72.7% of tonnage hauled by all transportation modes. Motor carriers hauled 11.27 billion tons of freight in 2024 and collected $906 billion, or 76.9% of total revenue earned across all U.S. transport modes that year.
The tonnage index, calculated from carrier membership surveys the association has conducted since the 1970s, is based on 2015 volumes set at 100 and is dominated by contract freight rather than spot market activity. ATA notes that preliminary monthly figures are subject to revision in the association's final report, typically issued around the fifth day of the following month.
Source: American Trucking Associations – https://www.trucking.org/news-insights/ata-truck-tonnage-index-unchanged-april