Trailer Orders Surge to Record High

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Daniel Acker/Bloomberg News

Trailer orders leaped to a record-high 47,810 in October, almost doubling from a year ago, ACT Research Co. reported.

“It was a banner month,” ACT’s Frank Maly told Transport Topics. “Net orders were an all-time industry record.”

The 93.1% year-over-year leap followed an 86% surge in September. Net orders this year total 278,204, up 56.5% from the same period last year.

Net orders are total orders minus cancellations, but the 505 cancellations were negligible, with about 1% of the total, Maly said.

“The indications we’re hearing is there’s even more strength coming from the small to medium fleets, as well as from dealers,” he said. “They need inventory, too.”

Dry van orders almost doubled year-over-year to 31,603, while reefers jumped 132% to 6,170, ACT said.

The month’s flatbed orders of just over 4,700 were the second highest on record, Maly said, rising 128% from a year ago.

Orders were 26% higher than the previous peak of 38,060 set in March 2006, industry analyst Rhem Wood of BB&T Capital Markets wrote in a Nov. 21 investors’ note.

Manufacturers’ backlogs also hit a record of 144,043, doubling from a year ago and topping the record of 140,000, also set in March 2006, Wood wrote.