Preliminary February Class 8 orders see declines

Preliminary North American Class 8 orders saw declines in February, according to recent data issued respectively freight transportation consultancy FTR and ACT Research, a provider of data and analysis for trucks and other commercial vehicles.

FTR reported that preliminary North American Class 8 orders—at 14,100—was off 20% compared to January, which marks the lowest order activity for the month of January since 2010, and were down 18% annually. The firm said this tally is reflective of fleets being very cautious in equipment purchases, due to the flat freight market and slowing economy, coupled with the COVID-19 virus adding to that uncertainty.  And it added that orders had been right at replacement levels for four months, “but now it appears fleets will take a pause in replacing older trucks until current anxiety dissipates.”  Class 8 orders have totaled 177,000 over the past twelve months, according to FTR.

“This is not good news for the trucking industry or the economy,” said Don Ake, FTR vice president commercial vehicles, in a statement. “It appears fleets have decided to delay some orders until the health crisis has passed. There is no pressure for fleets to order more trucks since most carriers have enough capacity to handle current freight volumes. The market was already in a wait-and-see mode before the virus spread. Now, fleets are just waiting for things to calm down before returning to normal ordering patterns. The industry was already taking a pause after two years of great sales. The current uncertainty has just made more fleets leery of taking on additional risks.”

Data from ACT was in line with FTR’s, with the firm reporting that Class 8 orders for February also came in at 14,100, representing an 18% decline compared to January and a 16% annual decline compared to what it called an easy February 2019 comparison.  

“Weak freight market and rate conditions, as well as a still-large backlog, continue to bedevil new Class 8 orders,” said Kenny Vieth, ACT’s President and Senior Analyst, in a statement. “February is not a particularly strong Class 8 order month and this February’s results, seasonally adjusted, were the weakest monthly order rate since last August. With COVID-19 becoming a hot topic at the end of February, one wonders if that impacted order activity.”