New trailer orders of 15,660 trailers fell 30% month over month but the result was mostly due a comparison to a very strong April. May’s volume was more in line with seasonal expectations, according to the latest State of the Industry: U.S. Trailers published by ACT Research Co. (ACT).

“Cancellations continue to be a non-issue for the industry, although they did increase month over month in May, “ said Frank Maly, Director-CV Transportation with ACT Research. “It was evident that some fleets reassessed their commitments for the second half of the year, since cancellations were at 7.9% of new orders,” he added. Maly said that softer orders in May were not a concern, since the industry is now past the prime order season. Net orders were off only 1% year over year.

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. ACT’s CV services are used by all major North American truck and trailer manufacturers and their suppliers, as well as the banking and investment community in North America, Europe and China.