ACT: Trailer Orders Weak in July

July is seasonally the weakest order month for the trailer industry and the 14,500 new orders booked for the month confirmed that pattern. Orders were down 5.9% month-over-month, according to the latest State of the Industry: U.S. Trailers published by ACT Research.

“The net order picture was a bit stronger than new orders, but still down 2% month over month,” said Frank Maly, director-CV Transportation with ACT Research. “Additionally the decline in orders outpaced the slide in production, resulting in the lowest level of backlogs since last December. July shipments were up 14.8% year over year, although they were down 12.6% from last month,” he added.

Maly reiterated that confidence and availability of funds are at the center of the pullback by credit buyers, impacting ongoing trailer order demand. ACT is the worldwide leading publisher of new and used commercial vehicle (CV) industry data, market analysis and forecasting services for the North American market, as well as the U.S. tractor-trailer market and the China CV market.