Trailer Makers Turn to Cost-Saving Features to Win New Customers as Growth Slows

This story appears in the April 1 print edition of Transport Topics.

Trailer manufacturers said they are turning to new cost-saving features and services to seize the advantage in a market that isn’t expected to grow all that much this year, industry officials said.

Dean Engelage, executive vice president at Great Dane Trailers, illustrated the broader focus on costs and features in a year when few new models have been introduced.

“Customers are much more concerned about the total cost of ownership,” Engelage said at the ACT Research seminar on March 19 in Columbus, Ind. That has prompted Great Dane to stress reduced corrosion, lower weight and fuel-cost savings, less maintenance, and customer-focused features.

At the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Ky., Great Dane unveiled a mobile application to locate company branches, dealers and routes to reach them. It also can reach emergency road service and the fleet services network.

“We are continually looking at new designs to reduce the weight of the trailer,” said Richard Giromini, CEO of Wabash National Corp. “We and many others in the industry continue to explore new options.”

Giromini offered the examples of 265 pounds saved with different flooring, 100 pounds saved with a different nose design and 475 pounds from tires.

Other savings targets are sidewalls, skirts, low-rolling resistance tires, nitrogen-based cooling systems, boat tails, undertray systems and gap reducers between trailer and tractor, he said.

Giromini said he expects a solid year, saying 2013 will be “equal to or better than” last year.

ACT President Kenny Vieth forecast a 5% gain to 252,000 units this year, which sustains overall fleet growth that resumed last year after dropping from 2007 to 2011.

However, ACT Research last week reported that trailer orders for February slipped 15% from a year earlier to 18,160. That was also down 11% from the previous month.

February’s decline mostly reflected the sharp falloff in tank trailer orders, ACT said.

“If the economy remains even marginally healthy, that leads us to believe this could be one of the longest and strongest cycles for the industry” with orders above replacement level through 2016, Wabash’s Giromini said.

Orders should surge, he said, to replace still-running trailers sold at a rate of nearly 290,000 annually in 1998 through 2000. They should have been traded in between 2008 and 2010, he said, since a typical van lasts 8 to 12 years.

At MATS, Hyundai Translead showed a concept van trailer that offered a 450-pound weight savings over traditional composite trailers, said Christian Lee, engineering group vice president. Production is scheduled to begin in August.

Hyundai also showed a drop-deck trailer prototype.

“We’d like to get a foothold with these new products and then go for various adaptations as customers tell us what they need,” Chief Sales Officer Glenn Harney told Transport Topics.

Vanguard National Trailer Corp. President Charles Mudd showed TT a new floor logistics system and ceiling liner for its product line as well as GloLight, a new lighting system from Optronics Inc.

Utility Trailer Manufacturing Co. promoted a new side skirt design, the 120A-4, designed to reduce fuel use at least 5% and raise ground clearance 4 inches to cut down on damage.

The skirt has a spring attachment in the front and is made from fiberglass-reinforced plastic that bends in both directions.

Suppliers also showed aerodynamic alternatives at MATS.

Refrigeration advancements also were a highlight.

ThermoKing introduced refrigeration units for straight trucks and trailers, an auxiliary power unit and wireless fuel sensor and preventive maintenance tools.

ThermoKing’s Precedent unit, with an engine greater than 25 horsepower, qualifies as an ultra-low-emission-in-use-performance-standard unit by the California Air Resources Board. It is designed to comply with Tier IV standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The T-80 series for straight trucks also promises lower fuel and maintenance costs and the TriPac Evolution APU also has new technology to reduce fuel use.

Carrier Transicold offered its X4 model, now in production after being unveiled at last year’s show.

Senior Product Manager Kevin Williams told TT the company also expects its EES, or engine emissions systems, product will be in production later this year.

MATS also featured new specialty trailers.

Trail King Industries offered its Super Hi-Lite rolled side trailer with continuous or segmented belt options, meant to eliminate contamination or slippage.

Keith Limback, general sales manager for Manac, said the company offered a lowboy trailer with up to 4.5 feet of aluminum extensions for overwidth loads.

In addition, Manac offered a scrap steel trailer and a flatbed unit with a sliding axle that can be configured at the 53-foot length to run in North America.