US trailer orders of 39,645 units fell nearly 28 per cent from the previous month, but that followed a two-month order surge and still indicates a solid month according to ACT Research.
Net orders were up 100 per cent year-over-year and more than 30 per cent year-to-date compared to the first 11 months of 2019. Before accounting for cancellations, new orders of 41,000 units were down 28 per cent versus October, but 94 per cent better year-over-year according to the research firm’s trailer report.
“While lower sequentially, November net orders really just took a bit of a breather from the September/October order surge, just missing the all-time top 10 list,” said Frank Maly, Director–CV Transportation Analysis and Research at ACT Research.
“It is quite possible that the previous two-month surge actually could have generated some minor November headwinds, and not surprisingly, dry vans and reefers are creating the majority of the volume uptick.
“At current production levels, the first available production slots for those two categories, on average, are in Q4’21, but of course, we’re talking averages, so while some OEMs may be fully committed for 2021 until higher production rates can be generated, some OEMs have remaining 2021 slots,” he said. “This has led us to a surprising industry comment in recent discussions: Fleets were wondering when the 2022 orderboards might open.”
ACT’s 64th Seminar is scheduled for February 23-25, 2021. Focused on the continuous evolution and advancement of power and energy changes in the transportation and commercial vehicle markets, OUTLOOK Seminar 64 will feature key industry leaders such as Ryan Reed of Wabash National, John Bennett from Meritor, Lance Riegel of Marvin Johnson, and Dominick Beckman from Hino Motors.
The report that ACT Research references provides a monthly review of the current US trailer market statistics, as well as trailer OEM build plans and market indicators divided by all major trailer types, including backlogs, build, inventory, new orders, cancellations, net orders and factory shipments. It is accompanied by a database that gives historical information from 1996 to the present, as well as a ready-to-use graph packet, to allow organisations in the trailer production supply chain, and those following the investment value of trailers and trailer OEMs and suppliers, to better understand the market.