Decreasing freight rates, sluggish demand and slow truck orders are all signs of a trucking industry that has finally hit the brakes on the 2018 economic boom.
Trailer orders in March fell to the lowest level since late 2016, according to reports from analysts at FTR and ACT Research – but demand's still high.
March Class 8 truck orders fell once again, falling below the 20,000 unit threshold for the third consecutive month.
Reports from FTR and ACT Research confirm that Class 8 truck orders were down in February. However, the medium-duty Class 5-7 truck segment continued its solid upward trend.
January trailer order numbers were down to start the year as fleets and trailer makers are still dealing with the large amount of orders made in 2018.
Truck orders got off to a slow start in 2019 with early reports from industry analysts ACT Research and FTR tracking a 26% decline in January compared to December 2018.
Despite a significant drop off in trailer orders to close out the year, 2018 was the best year on record for trailer orders, according to preliminary reports from ACT Research and FTR.
December wasn’t a great month for Class 8 truck orders but it did little to dampen what was a tremendous year for the heavy-duty truck market in 2018.
After a banner year in which Class 8 truck orders averaged at least 42,600 units per month, early reports from both ACT Research and FTR show a drop off in activity in November.
Trailer orders keep pouring in, with preliminary data from Act Research indicating 55,530 were ordered in October and research firm FTR calling trailer orders “tremendous for the second month in a row,” giving a total for October of 53,000 units.