US Trailer Orders Tumbled in June
June’s sharp plunge in U.S. trailer orders reflected increased cancellations, caution on the part of fleets over placing new orders and a very strong comparable month the year before, analysts said.
ACT Research Co. said orders fell about 50% to 13,450 units, compared with 27,888 year-over-year, citing preliminary calculations.
The research firm FTR pegged “net” orders at 11,900, calling it the weakest June since 2009 and a 56% decline from a year earlier.
“June’s net order volume was impacted by both low new order volume and higher cancellations. Both those factors result from an enhanced level of caution expressed by fleets over current business conditions,” Frank Maly, ACT’s director of commercial vehicle transportation analysis and research, said in a statement.
The backlog also dropped 15,000 units in June, Don Ake, FTR’s vice president of commercial vehicles, said in a statement.
He called that decline “likely a record drop for one month.”
