The surge in U.S. trailer orders in December 2022 was drastic, with FTR reporting between 56,949 and 57,300 units ordered and ACT Research supporting the number at 57,300 units – a jump of 100% from December 2021 figures. This points to positive action in fixing the supply chain issues that have haunted the nation since COVID began.

 

The backlogs rose to over 200,000 units while December  activity reported a 17% year-over-year increase but an 8% month-over-month decrease due to holiday downtime. Consequently, inventory levels dropped by 18%, prompting most manufacturers to worry about supply chain issues as demand continued to exceed capacity until 2023 and beyond. 

 

However Jonathan Starks from FTR noted that the surge is unlikely to be sustained for long periods of time; he also mentioned that there have been 347,000 orders placed within the last 12 months with current backlogs standing at their highest level since two years ago. 

 

Jennifer McNealy from ACT Research pointed out that their projections suggest a continuation of this upward trend into 2023 as well; with December 2022 being recorded as the second highest order month ever since 1996! Despite these high numbers customer confidence has not eroded yet so no cancellations have been reported thus far which suggests customers are expecting strong performance throughout 2023 which could lead to further increases in both ordering rate and manufacturing output throughout the year if expectations are met effectively by producers!

 

Sources: https://www.truckinginfo.com/10191024/trailer-orders-end-2022-at-near-record-levels

https://www.truckinginfo.com/10187311/trailer-orders-on-upward-trend-as-2023-orderboards-open