A weak freight market has persisted for two years but trucking executives remain hopeful that a turnaround is near.
A desperately awaited rebound in manufacturing demand will be central to carriers’ goals of improving tonnage and profitability by hauling heavier shipments. While tonnage shifts alone don’t provide the full picture of the market’s health, Trucking Dive is compiling the monthly updates to show how the key metric has changed over time.
The American Trucking Associations has been tracking tonnage, calculating the index based on member surveys, since the 1970s. In the chart below, the baseline is 100, which represents conditions in 2015. Tonnage primarily reflects freight movement through contracts versus on the spot market.
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