COLUMBUS, Ind. — August trailer orders continued to reflect the early opening to the 2018-19 order season.
Total trailer net orders of more than 38,000 units were up 31 percent month-over-month and 142 percent better than this time last year, according to this month’s issue of ACT Research’s State of the Industry: U.S. Trailer Report.
“Seven of 10 trailer categories were in the black month-over-month (flats, heavy lowbeds and dump trailers trailed the pack), while year-over-year eight of 10 were better (bulk tanks and grain were in the red). YTD net orders are up 40 percent, led by a 110 percent gain in reefers, while dry vans are up 33 percent,” said Frank Maly, director–CV transportation analysis and research at ACT Research. “Although we expect trailer orders to be roughly 1.5 times Class 8 tractor orders over the long-run, the three month moving average of trailer orders has been declining since December, and slid below 1.0 in both July and August; that’s an indication of both fleet attitudes and their willingness to continue to invest in new equipment, with truck OEMs perhaps just a bit more willing to book longer-term commitments.”
Additionally, the report noted that the industry continues to experience inventory-related issues. “Indications are that OEMs would have built more trailers but were limited by continuing component and material availability challenges,” Maly said. “Tires are frequently noted as a bottleneck, with undercarriage components and wheels continuing to be mentioned as well. Red-tags are also apparently continuing to occur, but less mention of them may indicate a bit less overall impact than in the second quarter. That said, we expect an attempt to clear some of those in the quarter-ending month of September.”
ACT is a worldwide publisher of new and used commercial vehicle (CV) industry data, market analysis and forecasting services for the North American market, as well as the U.S. tractor-trailer market and the China CV market. ACT’s CV services are used by all major North American truck and trailer manufacturers and their suppliers, as well as the banking and investment community in North America, Europe and China.
For more information on ACT, please visit http://www.actresearch.net.
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