Facilitated by the additional build days, trailer production jumped 25% from February, the highest level since March of last year.

“Roughly 60% of the month-over-month gain came from the additional build days in the quarter-ending month, while the remaining 40% improvement came from a 94 upd sequential jump in the build rate,” said Frank Maly, Director–CV Transportation Analysis and Research at ACT. He continued, “Even with that surge, it appears that the industry’s additional production capacity is still not being fully utilized.”

Trailer shipments closed the first quarter with a 26% increase from February, with every trailer category being up from last month. “The 26% sequential gain was almost exactly aligned with seasonal expectations,” said Maly. “The strong orderboard turnaround that began in December is finally being reflected in build and shipments,” he concluded.