October net U.S. trailer orders of 17,405 units fell more than 38 percent from the previous month and were nearly 69 percent lower compared to October of 2020. Before accounting for cancellations, new orders of 19,600 units were down almost 40 percent versus September, and 66 percent lower than the previous October, according to this month’s issue of ACT Research’s State of the Industry: U.S. Trailer Report. YTD net orders and new orders for the first ten months of 2021 were both about 10 percent lower compared to the same time period in 2020, which included the COVID-stricken spring data.

“October net orders were down sequentially and year-over-year, against last October’s very tough comparison, the second-highest net order month in industry history when fleet investment plans rebounded from the spring COVID doldrums,” said Frank Maly, Director–CV Transportation Analysis and Research at ACT Research. “The major impact on October data came from the dry van category, where, after a cautious bit of quarter-ending order acceptance, OEMs became much more careful about extending the orderboard horizon excessively. Reefers posted a very solid month-over-month increase in net orders.”

Maly added, “While net reefer orders in October are still well below normal industry volume, they outpaced the total for the entire third quarter. Expect order acceptance to be closely managed for the foreseeable future, with OEM challenges including the current strong backlogs that commit many of them for a major portion of next year and their inability to ramp production volume in response to surging fleet demand.”