ACT Research: Trailer orders decline in January

Feb. 22, 2013

The decline in January tractor-trailer orders continued the monthly saw-tooth order pattern that started in October, according to the latest “State of the Industry: U.S. Trailers” report published by ACT Research Co.

Despite that month-over-month decline, orders were still strong enough to generate a small gain in January backlog.

“A total of 20,357 net orders were booked in January, down 34% from December’s unsustainable level,” said Frank Maly, director of commercial vehicle transportation with ACT Research.

“However, January activity generally met our expectations that the new year might start a bit slow before gaining stride. The average seasonally adjusted annual rate for the last two months was 269,000 units, which gives a better perspective on the market,” he adds. January backlogs increased to 5.3 months.

For more information on ACT, visit http://www.actresearch.net/. For more information on truck sales, see ACT Research: Good news for December orders.