Preliminary North American Class 8 orders post strong annual gains in January

Preliminary North American Class 8 net truck orders held tight in January, according to data issued respectively this week by freight transportation consultancy FTR and ACT Research, a provider of data and analysis for trucks and other commercial vehicles.

FTR reported that preliminary January North American Class 8 orders—at 42,800 units—was down 18% compared to December’s 52,100 and up 144% annually, marking the fourth straight month FTR has reported that orders topped the 40,000 mark, with orders over the previous 12 months coming in at 308,000.  November orders came in at 52,600 and October came in at 40,100.

The firm said that freight growth remains vibrant, with fleets rushing to add capacity as quickly as possible. And it added that OEMs and suppliers are actively endeavoring to keep up with surging demand, with fleets continuing to place orders through year end, in order to acquire trucks once they are available.

“Currently there are shortages of raw materials and component parts, which will result in supply being unable to meet the demand of Class 8 trucks in the short-term,” said Don Ake, vice president of commercial vehicles for FTR, in a statement. “Class 8 suppliers are working diligently to ramp up production but are hindered by the pandemic and material shortages. In addition, imported parts deliveries are being delayed up to two weeks at the ports. The supply chain is struggling after the surge in demand following the economic restart. Now companies are having problems hiring back enough workers due to virus concerns and protocols. Also, the steel plants took longer than expected to fire back up. Demand for Class 8 trucks is surging, but the supply chain is hindered.”

FTR’s Ake also observed that the trucking industry is very skilled and experienced in dealing with roadblocks, adding that it will handle this situation better than other sectors.

“However, this will limit first-quarter production and will probably run over into part of Q2,” he said. “When the vaccine enables employment to increase and the other bottlenecks are removed, this will end up being a robust year for Class 8 sales.”

ACT data: January preliminary North American Class 8 net orders came in at 42,200 units, according to ACT’s data. This represented a 17% decline compared to December’s 50,900 units and a 146% annual increase.

“At this introductory pass at 2021 commercial vehicle data, the consumer economy lacks the stimulus-fueled robustness that characterized spending into early Q4,” said Kenny Vieth, ACT’s President and Senior Analyst, in a statement. “Even as consumers look less hearty—at least in the short-term—manufacturing sector indicators show that the industrial economy is shaking off the dust of two years of tepid activity. The slower economic expansion of the past two months is reflected in spot freight rates, which have trended lower since November. Some, but not all, of the pullback relates to seasonality.”