Continuing the up-and-down trend seen month to month since October 2012, trailer orders in January dropped from December. However, despite the decline, orders were still high enough to produce a backlog of orders — now up to 5.3 months — according to ACT Research. 

ACT says that more than 20,000 trailer orders were placed in the month, “down 34 percent from December’s unsustainable level,” says Frank Maly, director of Commercial Vehicle Transportation for ACT. 

Maly says, however, that January orders were as expected, and ACT forecasts that trailer orders will take off in 2013. “January activity generally met our expectations that the new year might start a bit slow before gaining stride,” Maly says. “The average seasonally adjusted annual rate for the last two months was 269,000 units, which gives a better perspective on the market.”