ACT Research’s preliminary estimate for February 2017 U.S. net trailer orders is 26,400 units. Final February volumes will be available later this month. ACT’s methodology allows it to generate an early estimate of the market that should be within 3% of the final order results.

“We’ve seen delayed timing this order season, as fleets appeared to wait to make their investment decisions post-election. That makes analysis of monthly changes as well as year-over-year results a bit challenging. The January to February decline in net orders, roughly a 20% slide, is much more in line with expectations for the December to January timeframe,” said Frank Maly, ACT’s director of CV transportation analysis and research. “The delay in the overall order season has the opposite impact on year-over-year comps; February will be roughly 24% better than the same month last year.”

Maly added, “A quick review of other industry measures show cancellations, which we define as a percent of the backlog, continue at a tolerable level, although in February they appear to have drifted upward to the highest rate posted since October. Additionally, it appears that reefer backlogs held steady last month, while both the dry van and total industry orderboards posted their fourth straight monthly gain.”