According to ACT Research’s recent issue of its State of the Industry: U.S. Trailers report, November net U.S. trailer orders of 39,590 units were 17% lower compared to October, 27% lower on a seasonally-adjusted basis and 22% above the year-ago November level.

“Discussions across the past month continue to indicate more OEMs are expanding the availability of 2023 build slots, but 2023 is not yet fully open. Supply-chain concerns still linger, so OEMs are hesitant to overpromise and underdeliver for the second half of 2023, where visibility is limited,” Jennifer McNealy, director–cv market research & publications at ACT Research, said. “That said, nearly as soon as a build slot is available, there is a fleet ready to fill it with an order.”

Backlogs are resuming growth in line with typical seasonality, as orders flow in as more OEMs open or expand their 2023 build slot offerings. We expect this trend to continue. November activity resulted in the industry closing the month with a 7.9-month backlog-to-build ratio (7.3 months seasonally adjusted), as order intake remained stronger than the uptick in build rates.”