August is the start of peak freight season. Back-to-school, harvest shipping and early holiday inventory positioning typically push freight volumes higher. The ATA Truck Tonnage Index has shown MoM gains in August in most recent years, making this the easiest MoM hurdle of the three-month stretch. The more interesting signal is the magnitude: a strong August would reinforce the case that 2026 is the genuine freight recovery year after two years of for-hire contraction. ATA publishes the August truck tonnage reading roughly three to four weeks after month-end.