Last April, trucking companies ordered 15,000 new trailers. This year, they ordered 300 — and the record low is a chilling sign for the consumer economy.
Orders for truck trailers crashed last month.If trucking companies are ordering less equipment, it shows that they forecast retailers and manufacturers will need to move fewer goods in the coming months.Trucking companies ordered the lowest number of truck trailers on record in April, according to freight forecasting firm FTR.
Trailer orders are highly seasonal. In April, US retailers and manufacturers typically order around 20,000 trailers, according to an average of April FTR data from 2013 to 2019. They forecast what goods they will need to move in the coming weeks or months, and order new trailers accordingly.Trucking manufacturers require up to several months to deliver equipment, so trailer orders reveal what business leaders believe the consumer and industrial economy will look like months from now.
And the fact that retailers and manufacturers estimate that they'll need 98% fewer trailers than they needed last year shows the belief that the coronavirus-induced recession isn't going away anytime soon — even though state restrictions on businesses across the US are lifting. "Fleets remain in a severe wait-and-see posture until they can evaluate the damage done to the freight markets from the pandemic," Don Ake, FTR vice president of commercial vehicles, said in a press release. "Since the recovery from the economic crisis is highly dependent on the status of the health crisis, there is a huge amount of uncertainty in the trailer market.
The coronavirus, which has shuttered factories and rendered millions of Americans jobless, is exacerbating the trucking recession,
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