Wabash National Corp. remains cautious, but recent "signs of encouragement" have prompted the trailer maker to increase production of its DuraPlate composite trailers
, said Jerry Ehrlich, chairman, president and CEO.
For first quarter 2001 the company posted a net loss of $10.4 million, before inventory and other nonrecurring charges, on sales of $242.6 million. That compares to net income of $9.1 million on sales of $352.8 million for the same period in 2000.
"The transportation market continued to be severely impacted by the reduced level of freight demand during the first quarter," said Ehrlich. Wabash has taken actions to address the soft market, including the elimination of some 500 jobs, but he said the effects won’t be apparent until second quarter. In first quarter Wabash also took an inventory charge of approximately $9 million on new and used trailers in its retail network.
Ehrlich said their order backlog, as of March 31, was $550 million, including some $400 million for the DuraPlate trailer.