July net U.S. trailer orders of 18,851 units were a significant improvement (up 40 percent) from June’s uptick and well above July 2019’s level (up 80 percent). Before accounting for cancellations, new orders of 20,000 units were up 26 percent versus June and 44 percent better year-over-year, according to this month’s issue of ACT Research’s State of the Industry: U.S. Trailer Report.

“The industry continues to climb from the COVID-generated historic low order volume posted in April,” said Frank Maly, Director–CV Transportation Analysis and Research at ACT Research. “At this time last year, however, fleets were in a freight volume and rate-driven investment retrenchment that continued through last September/October.”

Maly continued, “Our conversations this month indicate that a change in fleet attitudes began to occur in mid-June, when they began to investigate availability and pricing.”

“Discussions following the July 4 holiday break shifted toward active negotiations and order placement,” he said. “An interesting dichotomy for the industry was occurring at that time, as OEMs extended holiday downtime, fleets began to make investment commitments, with larger fleets leading the way and trailer order strength concentrated in the dry van segment.”

ACT Research’s State of the Industry: U.S. Trailers report provides a monthly review of the current U.S. trailer market statistics, as well as trailer OEM build plans and market indicators divided by all major trailer types, including backlogs, build, inventory, new orders, cancellations, net orders, and factory shipments