Commercial trailer orders in March were up 165 percent from the year-ago month, the sixth straight month to see year-over-year growth
, according to ACT Research. In addition, four of these months have had over 100 percent gains.

In the latest release of State of the Industry: U.S. Trailers, ACT pointed to widespread improvement, with year-over-year growth in all of the nine trailer segments. Dry vans are rebounding strongly with a year-to-date growth in net orders of 233 percent. Reefer vans, which generally performed best during the recession, continue to rise, with year-to-date growth of 63 percent. The improving orders pushed total trailer backlogs to its highest level in 18 months, which will support a gradual increase in production rates, ACT said.

"The trailer manufacturing industry seems to be recovering from the deep slump it has been in for the past two years," said Steve Tam, vice president of the commercial vehicle sector with ACT Research. "The stretch of stronger months has come during the normal peak season for trailer orders, so the industry is being cautious about ramping up production too rapidly to ensure growth is sustainable."