June Trailers Orders Increase 144% From Last Year
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U.S. trailer orders experienced a surprising surge in June, soaring on an annual and sequential basis as buyers took action after months of sitting on the sidelines, reported.
Preliminary net data showed orders jumped 144% to 15,400 units compared with the same time last year and rose 133% compared with May. While June marked the second consecutive month with positive year-over-year results, the jump bucked a trend of fairly mixed results that has persisted all year.
“Lower June net order intake was expected, as it is one of the weaker order months of the annual cycle, so June data surprised to the upside,” said Jennifer McNealy, director of commercial vehicle market research for ACT. That said, OEMs have been sharing for the past several months that amid the lower order placements they have seen a flurry of quotation activity.”
McNealy suggested the June numbers could signify a pull-forward of demand in advance of anticipated price increases. While she noted this activity could boost near-term activity for trailer makers’ build rates, she expressed concern that weak for-hire carrier profitability could continue to be a longer-term challenge for demand.
[July State of the Industry: U.S. Trailers Update] - US Trailer Order Intake at 15.4k Units in June
Read more from the update here: — ACT Research (@actresearch)
“With weak for-hire truck market fundamentals, low used equipment valuations, relatively full inventories, high interest rates and the ambiguity of policy shifts still in play, ACT’s expectations for subdued build and order intake levels during 2025 remain intact,” McNealy said. “Additionally, preliminary data show cancel rates continue to be elevated, and in aggregate our standard notice that one month’s data does not make a trend is worth reiterating.”
Strong Gains Seen in Larger Fleets
Stoughton Trailers said it has experienced strong gains among large fleets despite the overall lack of industry growth, but the manufacturer noted that medium- and smaller-sized fleets aren’t as active.
“Our sales team has put a lot of effort into maintaining relationships — just staying in touch with customers and providing the best service that they can — and it’s been able to get us a little increase in market share,” said Ron Jake, Stoughton’s director of marketing. “Everyone is working really hard to try to get what they can from this market.”
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Under current market conditions, Jake stressed that there remains too much freight uncertainty for many of his customers to purchase trailers.
“With the freight market the way it is, it just doesn’t appear that there’s going to be a volume increase that will drive more freight,” Jake said. “Compounding that [is] the fact that there’s just so much uncertainty in the market about tariffs, about cost increases, about the impact on the volume of shipments. It is just giving a lot of customers a reason to hit the pause button again and again and not be active purchasers.”
FTR Transportation Intelligence preliminary data showed similar results to ACT’s, with trailer orders surging 157% year over year to 13,827 units, as well as a 113% jump from the prior month. Year to date, however, orders have decreased 36% to 96,803.
Tariffs Continue to Disrupt
“The ever-evolving tariff environment continues to disrupt the U.S. trailer market,” said Dan Moyer, senior analyst of commercial vehicles at FTR. “The increase in tariffs on steel, aluminum and fabricated components to 50% on June 4 will significantly increase production costs for OEMs/suppliers, putting further downside pressure on trailer demand.”
Moyer also warned that country-specific tariffs add further cost pressures even with tariffs on Chinese imports moderating, at least temporarily. He also pointed to the legal uncertainty regarding reciprocal and fentanyl-related tariffs as a further headwind on demand.
“OEMs and suppliers face pressure to either absorb rising costs or pass some or all of them on to fleets, potentially impacting fleet expansion and maintenance strategies,” Moyer said. “As a result, some fleets may delay new trailer purchases or turn to refurbished and alternative options. Potential consequences include heightened market price sensitivity, extended trailer life cycles and a shifting of some demand toward used equipment or alternative configurations.”
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