Wabash National Corp. and ArvinMeritor Inc. have confirmed a three-year agreement with U.S. Xpress Enterprises for more than 7,000 Wabash DuraPlate branded trailers.

The new trailers, featuring Wabash National's flagship product, will be equipped with ArvinMeritor's RideStar Highway Parallelogram air suspension system, Meritor TL trailer axles with long-life cartridge bearing hub assemblies, Q Plus brakes with MA212 brake linings, SteelLite X30 brake drums, and Meritor automatic slack adjusters.
The complete undercarriage system will be fully assembled at ArvinMeritor's facility in Frankfort, Ky., and shipped to Wabash National's main manufacturing plant in Lafayette, Ind.
According to officials at Wabash National, the value of the order is in excess of $120 million. It marks the second time in less than three months that a major carrier has placed an order of this magnitude with the Lafayette, Ind.-based trailer manufacturer.
The trailers will also be equipped with GeoLogic, a new asset monitoring and tracking system provided by Aether Systems Inc., in conjunction with Transcommunications Inc. GeoLogic will allow U.S. Xpress to monitor thousands of its trailers in the field simply and easily by utilizing a proprietary reporting system. The low-cost asset management and tracking solution incorporates the use of "geo-fences" and pre-determined events such as arrivals, departures, entry into the trailer and disconnection from the truck to help provide a secure solution for load planning.