Trailer cancellations trended closer to historical norms in December and January while orders outpaced build plans, a good sign for trailer manufacturers and their dealer partners after three consecutive soft years, ACT Research reports.
Jennifer McNealy, director of CV Market Research and Publications at ACT Research, says cancellations have held mostly steady at 1.8% and 1.6% of the backlog over the past two months, a more subdued total after “gyrating between earth and outer space through most of 2025.”
Cancellations were higher in the dry van and tank segments, but the overall totals coupled with stronger orders could be the sign of an early market recovery, McNealy says.
“For a second consecutive month, net orders significantly outpaced build, pumping some life into the anemic backlogs on the books through most of 2025,” she says. “Backlogs rose more than 18% sequentially, or about 12,000 units, ending January at 75,500 units.”
As 2026 takes off, McNealy says the trailer industry faces many challenges: relatively weak demand/order activity, financing concerns, tariffs known, the uncertainty of tariffs to come, weak carrier profits and still low freight volumes, in a period of constrained capital spending balanced against high input costs.
“However,” she adds, “the uptick in net orders the past two months has built the backlog queue and given industry leaders reason to believe that 2026 could be the year of transition that everyone has been hoping to have.”
