Trailer orders tank in July as manufacturers struggle to find workers

From Freight Waves.

A lack of workers, supply chain disruptions and the effective end of the order cycle combined to push new trailer orders down 58% year over year in July.

Manufacturers would have built more equipment to meet strong demand “if the supply chain would have been more robust,” Wabash National Corp. President and CEO Brent Yeagy told FreightWaves.

“We have generally met our ramp targets for 2021,” he said. “We could have probably exceeded them based on the demand that we have.”

Suppliers’ own issues attracting workers, coupled with shortages of imported parts and components, make building to order difficult, said Don Ake, vice president of commercial vehicles at FTR Transportation Intelligence.

“The supply chain is still experiencing disruptions and bottlenecks,” Ake said. “Some improvement in production is expected this year, but there are indications some supplies will be restricted into next year.”

FTR reported preliminary trailer orders of 8,200 units were 32% below June. On a rolling 12-month basis, trailer orders totaled 354,000 as of July 31.

Bookings across dry, refrigerated and vocational trailers were lower as manufacturers held off opening 2022 order books while determining commodity pricing before locking in prices.

See the complete article online at Freight Waves.