ACT Research reported Friday that the trailer market closed 2016 on a solid note, with December dry van orders up 26 percent year-over-year and reefer orders up almost 140 percent over 2015.
Despite that solid year-over-year performance, ACT says both new and net orders were down 5 percent from the previous month. Additionally, the impact of higher energy prices was evident in the vocational segments, as flats, dumps, and bulk tanks all posted solid m/m improvement.
Decemberâs order pace was insufficient to offset weaker orders earlier in the year; net trailer orders for the full year were weaker than last year, according to the most recent State of the Industry: U.S. Trailers published by ACT Research Co. (ACT).
âFor the full year, industry net orders of just under 229k units were down 28 percent versus 2015,â says Frank Maly, directorâCV Transportation Analysis and Research at ACT. âDry vans and reefers, both off 30 percent to 31 percent year-over-year, were the major factors in that total market performance, although net orders for every trailer category in our group of ten were down from 2015.â
