October might bring to mind ghosts and witches and things that go bump in the night, but there was nothing scary about trailer orders for the month.
Preliminary trailer orders were in line with expectations at 31,800 units, up 71 percent from September, according to FTR. What’s more, October activity was the highest since November 2018, pointing to a vibrant start for the 2020 trailer ordering season.
That said, orders were down significantly (42 percent) year over year from the near-record volume in 2018. Trailer orders now total 241,000 units for the past 12 months.
The high October order totals were achieved despite still-elevated cancellations, as a few OEM’s continue to clean up their 2019 backlogs, FTR reports. October production is expected to be down moderately on a per-day basis because of seasonal factors, with backlogs climbing slightly for the first time in 10 months.
“This is great news for the trailer market. Several large dry van fleets placed requirement orders for 2020, showing they have confidence in the freight markets going into next year,” says Don Ake, FTR vice president of commercial vehicles. “Dry van orders were strong despite a lull in freight growth. There still is plenty of replacement demand present and fleets continue to need more dry vans to move products quickly to and between warehouses due to increased online sales.”
FTR reports the vocation trailer markets, such as flatbeds and dumps, are still struggling as the industrial sectors of the economy weaken. Refrigerated van orders are expected to increase soon. The higher October orders suggest the market will be decent in 2020, although down significantly from the expected record production volume of 2019. The trailer market is slowing, but a significant downturn is not imminent.
