Preliminary reports show trailer net orders closed on a softer note, with OEMs booking 26,600 units in December, according to ACT Research. That was 17 percent lower than November and 40 percent below the previous year’s volume. Final December results will be available later this month.

“After a very conservative path from April through August, OEMs cautiously began to accept additional orders in September. That careful posture continued through the remainder of the year. OEMs continue to balance staffing and supply-chain challenges as they seek to ramp production volumes to better fulfill fleet equipment demands,” said Frank Maly, Director CV Transportation Analysis and Research of ACT Research. “Even with the lower December order volume, preliminary results point to month-over-month growth in industry backlog as the year closed, and it appears that 2022 production slots are now committed through August, at current build rates. This preliminary report puts the full-year 2021 net orders at almost 248,000 trailers, down about 17 percent from 2020. The decline is entirely the result of supply-chain and staffing issues, as OEM output continues to trail actual fleet demand.”