Trailer Orders Rise in February as Cancellations Reach Five-Month High
U.S. trailer orders climbed past 26,000 or about 24% higher, year-over-year, as cancellations increased to the highest level in five months, ACT Research Co. reported.
Orders were 26,200, ACT said, citing preliminary data until final volumes are available later in the month. That is up from 21,412 a year earlier.
鈥淲e鈥檝e seen delayed timing this order season, as fleets appeared to wait to make their investment decisions 鈥榩ost-election.鈥 That makes analysis of monthly changes as well as year-over-year results a bit challenging,鈥 Frank Maly, ACT鈥檚 director, commercial vehicle transportation analysis and research, said in a statement.
The orders were below January鈥檚 32,737, about a 20% decline, and that is more in line with 鈥渆xpectations for the December to January timeframe,鈥 he said.
Cancellations, which ACT defines as a percent of the backlog, 鈥渃ontinue at a tolerable level, although in February they appear to have drifted upward to the highest rate posted since October,鈥 Maly said.
However, refrigerated trailer backlogs held steady in February, 鈥渨hile both the dry van and total industry order boards posted their fourth straight monthly gain,鈥 he said.
