Trailer Numbers Head Toward 'Normal'

Shipments of trailers and chassis continued to slide through May, dropping 14.4% below their levels for the same five months during the record-breaking year of 1998.

Preliminary figures from the Bureau of Census — which counts trailers moved out the factory door, not retail figures — showed that 116,218 units were shipped between January and May, compared with 135,753 units in the same period a year earlier. The value of 1999 trailers shipments to date was put at $2.24 billion, down from $2.51 billion.

Shipments for May were 22,767, which was 2.8% below the 23,423 sent out in April.

“So long as the drop is not too precipitous, there is no reason to be concerned,” said Richard P. Bowling, president of the Truck Trailer Manufacturers Association. “It looks as though the totals are returning to normal after a big year.”

Trailer shipments in 1998 were estimated at 344,000, a record number (2-22, p. 1). While shipment numbers through June 1998 are final, the year-end total is still considered preliminary — as are 1999 Census Bureau figures — and subject to be revised downward by as much as 15%. But even after such a revision, 1998’s activity would still be a record.

Revised year-end figures for 1998 are expected by the end of August, according to TTMA.

Bowling said the industry’s shipments in recent years have typically hovered around 240,000, with the exception of 1998.

For the full story, see the July 26 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.