FTR: U.S. Trailer orders decline again in January

United States truck trailer net orders totaled 17,900 units for the month, a 30 percent decrease from December and 37 percent decline from January 2015.    United States truck trailer net orders totaled 17,900 units in January, a 30 percent decrease from December and 37 percent decline from January 2015, according to the latest figures from the freight transportation analyst FTR.
   FTR previously reported U.S. trailer orders reached 313,000 units for the full year in 2015.
   Despite order levels dropping below 20,000 units, FTR said they were in line with expectations following four straight months of strong trailer orders. The firm attributed the decline primarily to dry van orders reaching their lowest since May 2015 and weak flatbed orders for the month.
   Refrigerated van orders saw a 33 percent bump in January from the previous month.
   Unlike overall orders, trailer builds grew 3 percent for the month, thanks mostly to an improvement in dry van production as well as some growth in flatbed trailers. Production of the majority of the other trailer segments was down from December, FTR noted.
   The tank trailer segment remained weak in January with dump trailers still at a steady level
   “Normally this would be a poor order month for January, but these are far from normal circumstances. Orders averaged over 33,000 for the previous four months, so a pullback of this magnitude was totally expected,” FTR Vice President of Commercial Vehicles Don Ake said of the results. “Most large fleets have their orders in for the first half of the year, there are not many open build slots left.
   “Backlogs for vans are very robust, so, even if there are several weak order months, production should hold steady the first half of 2016,” he added. “Production this January was the same as January 2015. However, last year the market was on the upswing, and this year it is cooling off somewhat. Trailer production is expected to outpace truck production for the next several months.”