June saw the third consecutive monthly decline in total U.S commercial trailer net orders, with the industry posting a 26% decline from May. That decline, in combination with an increase in trailer production, resulted in industry backlogs falling 5% month over month. The industry orderboard ended in June at 97,000 units.
This update on industry performance was reported in the latest State of the Industry: U.S. Trailers published by ACT Research Co. (ACT) July 26. ACT also noted that, despite the decline in the orderboard during the month, industry backlog is still more than double the level of one year ago.
“The fall-off in net orders was greater than anticipated,” said Frank Maly, director CV Transportation Analysis and Research with ACT. “A positive factor to keep in mind is that cancellations of existing commitments on the orderboards were not an issue; new order weakness was the cause. We are in a seasonally low time of the year for new order placement.”
Maly said that fleet order rates will need to be closely monitored over the next couple of months. After that is can be determined if the recent order softness is a short-lived pause or the start of a new trend in the industry recovery.
ACT is the worldwide leading 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. For more information visit http://www.actresearch.net.
