Preliminary February orders reached 32,000 units, the fifth consecutive month that trailer orders exceeded 30,000 units.
Last month’s order activity was 24 percent above a year ago and if the preliminary figures hold, it will be a record February for trailer orders.
“The trailer market remains red-hot,” says FTR Vice President of Commercial Vehicles Don Ake. “Fleets are scrambling to add capacity and are ordering large numbers of trucks and trailers.”
Orders dropped from the huge volumes of the past three months, and dropped 20 percent month-over-month, but remain historically high. Backlogs, FTR predicts, should rise above 170,000 units for the first time since early in 2016.
“Most of these orders are for the second half of the year,” Ake says. “This is good news for the economy and the industry in that carriers expect the solid freight demand to last throughout 2018. The economy is vibrant and producing freight growth across all sectors, which is boosting all segments of trailers and resulting in record order months.”