COLUMBUS, Ind. – February net US trailer orders of 27,041 units increased about 1% from the previous month and were 6% higher compared to February of 2021.
Before accounting for cancellations, new orders of 28.1k units were virtually unchanged versus January, but up almost 3% from the previous February, according to this month’s issue of ACT Research’s State of the Industry: U.S. Trailer Report.
“Tight order control, bordering on order allocation, continues to be the norm for the industry,” Frank Maly, director of CV transportation analysis and research at ACT Research, said. While demand for equipment continues at a torrid pace, OEMs are carefully metering orders to production levels,”.
He said small fleets and dealers continue to struggle to obtain equipment, as discussions point toward larger players willing to make large volume commitments.
“Some reports indicate that fleets are willing to make sizeable commitments that would extend well into 2023, but it seems OEMs are not particularly willing to push the order board to those extremes,” Maly said. “Support from the supply chain, as OEMs attempt to ramp output, will be the controlling factor on any order surge.”
He said that OEMs have kept this metric in a tight range between 7.4 months and 8.4 months since June. “However, February’s 8.1-month level commits the industry into early November, and we will soon be approaching a backlog-to-build ratio that will extend into the new year, where new model years and new pricing commitments could complicate order acceptance,” Maly said
The Trucker News Staff produces engaging content for not only TheTrucker.com, but also The Trucker Newspaper, which has been serving the trucking industry for more than 30 years. With a focus on drivers, the Trucker News Staff aims to provide relevant, objective content pertaining to the trucking segment of the transportation industry. The Trucker News Staff is based in Little Rock, Arkansas.
