Trailers Orders See Early Fall Surge

Net trailer orders in September rose nearly 47% over the previous month hitting almost 36,000 units, according to a report by ACT Research.

The 36,000 units is also up 12% compared with last September. Dry vans and refers led the way.

ACT notes that it's not unusual to see a spike in orders this time of the year.

“While September’s early kick-off to the fall/winter order season was not particularly surprising, the volumes in dry vans and refers were a bit more robust than anticipated, up 46% and 45%, respectively,” said Frank Maly, director of CV transportation analysis and research at ACT.

Maly went on to say that overall this has been a down year for the commercial vehicle equipment industry, which has seen a weakness in tractor volumes coming from high dealer inventory levels and a resistance to investment in the freight market. He also expects it to be difficult for the coming months to see positive year-over-year numbers against a stellar 2014.

“A better measure of the industry will be backlogs, where growth will indicate order flow above the current build rates,” said Maly.