According to ACT Research’s recently released Transportation Digest, the current business environment for heavy-duty trucks doesn’t get much better than this.

“Demand for commercial vehicles in North America is about as good as we’ve seen in 35 years of monitoring heavy-duty market conditions,” said Kenny Vieth, ACT’s President and Senior Analyst. “Times are so good that demand is far outrunning the industry’s ability to supply right now, and that will likely remain the case into the autumn and perhaps even through the winter.”

Vieth added, “This would mark an unusual extension of peak demand for a period not impacted by an emissions-related prebuy.”

Regarding the COVD impact on the trucking industry, Vieth noted, “The roller coaster ride down and up of the COVID cycle was about the same as in the Great Recession, but the duration of the ride is happening in only 25 percent of the elapsed time. COVID triggered a super-compressed cycle, resulting in incredible pressure on supply chains to respond – and on a synchronized global level.” He concluded, “When you add in considerations unique to the COVID period, like workplace safety measures, wearing PPE, worker absenteeism, and government and employer activity restrictions, it’s amazing that the bullwhip effect hasn’t been even tougher.”

The report, which combines proprietary ACT data and analysis from a wide variety of sources, paints a comprehensive picture of trends impacting transportation and commercial vehicle markets. This monthly report is designed as a quick look at transportation insights for use by fleet and trucking executives, reviewing top-level considerations such as for-hire indices, freight, heavy and medium duty segments, the U.S. trailer market, used truck sales information, and an overview of the US macro economy.