Trailer Orders Top 13,000, Off 39% Year-Over-Year
U.S. net orders of trailers hit 13,800 in March, down 39% year-over-year as all but dump trailers showed weakness, while backlogs remained solid, research firm FTR said.
Orders in 2015 were at near-peak levels, climbing to almost 316,000 units, analysts said.
Orders have totaled 291,000 over the past 12 months and backlogs are down only 6% year-over-year, FTR said.
“The long, strong run of the trailer market finally appears to be moderating. Backlogs are still robust, so production should be steady for the next several months,” Don Ake, FTR vice president of commercial vehicles, said in a statement.
Ake said dry van orders were “weak” compared with recent months because most fleets have already placed orders for 2016, beginning in August 2015.
“The big question now is how solid the backlog will be if the economy remains stagnant,” he said.
One trailer maker said the industry is simply returning to a “normal” volume of orders.
“The use of ‘normal’ in the trailer-ordering world is hard to define because of the volatility of the market by its nature. We are unfortunately used to the swings up and down,” David Giesen, vice president of sales, Stoughton Trailers, told Transport Topics.
“He added: “Our backlog remains record strong.”
