The number of truck repossessions and liquidations fell off by nearly half during the third quarter, Nassau Assest Management reported Monday. That number is down 44 percent compared to a year ago, after a year and a half of increased repo activity the firm said in it’s NasTrac Quarterly Index (NQI).
The slow down in repos may be partly due to production limits of new vehicles. According to Nassau, a bit of the truck sector’s panic over the last few quarters may be over, with a stabilization coming after the market has shed off excess equipment.
But while the sector may have stabilized from the high level of sell-off activity of the recent few years, the industry as a whole struggles under a contrast in factors.
The industry analysis group, FTR Associates, predicts sales of new Class 8 trucks is likely to be down by 47 percent, though October OEM orders were up. The firm suggests the increase is due to buyers seeking engines with 2007 technology, rather than the higher-priced 2010 tech, and the surge may take sales away from the early part of next year.
Freight shipments increased slightly for August, inching up for the second consecutive month by 0.7 percent from July, according to the Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI). Those two months are part of a straight four-month period that avoided decline for the first time since 2002, Nassau says. But the August figure, while better than the month before, was down 10.9 percent from August 2008, the worst month-to-month comparison of August in 20 years.
Yet the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports another 7,500 trucking industry jobs vanished during October, nearly doubling the number lost during September.
“These numbers obviously offer a mixed message and it appears that the economy is showing some signs of life but many sectors have yet to take part in that growth,’ Nassau’s president, Ed Castagna said.
FTR Associates: FTR Reports Significant Increase in Class 8 Heavy Truck Orders for October (press release, Nov. 3, 2009)
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