The U.S. Trailer Market Continues to Improve in the Beginning of 2021, with a Shortage of Parts Becoming the Focus
The trailer market in the United States began a "skysurge" in September 2020, and this round of skyrocketing continued until December 2020.
Many people believe that this wave of trailer market growth will end in 2021. However, judging from the data of the U.S. trailer market in the opening year of 2021, this upsurge seems to continue for some time.
According to data from the US ACT Research Center, the number of trailer orders in the US in January 2021 was 29,100, an increase of 94% over the same period last year.
However, compared with the second half of 2020, the number of U.S. trailer orders in January of this year has obviously been corrected, and the number of trailer orders has fallen by 33% from the previous month.
Frank Maly, Director of the Commercial Vehicle Department of the ACT Research Center, said: “The number of trailer orders in January this year was almost twice that of the same period last year, which is actually close to our original estimate. Because trailer manufacturers have already fully sensed the fleet’s demand for new vehicles. It's huge."
Frank Maly believes that the relative decline in the number of orders in January this year is also expected compared to December last year.
He said: "The skyrocketing number of U.S. trailer orders from September to December last year has completely laid the foundation for U.S. trailer production this year. So judging from the number of orders, it is unlikely that U.S. trailers will see a skyrocket again this year. ."
For the two products, dry cargo vans and refrigerated trucks, which are the most in demand, the orders of most trailer manufacturers in the United States have been backlogged to the end of this year. This means that the production capacity of trailers in the U.S. is close to saturation this year.
"If increasing production efficiency is now an urgent problem facing American trailer manufacturers, many trailer companies are increasing the recruitment of employees." Frank Maly said.
In 2021, most trailer companies in the United States are about to reach full capacity, and they will also face a challenge-is the supply of parts and components timely?
Frank Maly said: "While American trailer manufacturers seek to increase production capacity, the supply of parts and components may become a stumbling block."
The surge in the number of trailer orders in the past few months has made the order backlog more and more serious. Frank Maly said: "The backlog of orders in January has exceeded 66% of production capacity. This is caused by the backlog of the past 7 months."
However, the surge in the American trailer market only exists in the mainstream transportation models-dry cargo vans and refrigerated trucks. Manufacturers of these models are currently working overtime to respond to overwhelming orders.
At the same time, the market for construction trailers in the United States is not clear. Frank Maly said: "Because there is no relevant investment commitment, the engineering trailer market in the United States is far less popular than the transportation trailer market."
At the same time, the production environment of large and small- and medium-sized fleets in the United States is also very different. Frank Maly said that large-scale fleets are now leading the market. At that time, small and medium-sized fleets were still not out of the trough due to the impact of the COVID-19 in 2020. Now there are two shortages of small and medium-sized fleets in the United States: one lacks drivers, and more drivers. Willing to work in a large fleet; second, lack of new trailers, the production strategy of the manufacturer is obviously more inclined to a large fleet. Therefore, the production status of the small and medium-sized fleet in the United States is worrying.