Trailer Orders Drop 14% Year Over Year in February

U.S. trailer orders continued to trend below the previous year in February after a short-lived but strong uptick the previous month, ACT Research reported.

Preliminary net data showed orders decreased 14% year over year to 18,000 units. That also marked a 17% decline from January. Seasonally adjusted results at this point in the annual order cycle lowered the total to 17,000 units. ACT Research had expected the sequential drop in net orders as the industry is moving toward the weaker order months of the annual intake cycle.

“From that perspective, February did not disappoint,” said Jennifer McNealy, director of commercial vehicle market research at ACT. “It’s also no surprise that data are lower than the February 2024 intake, given the uncertainty currently plaguing the U.S. commercial vehicle industry and the economy at large.”

McNealy cautioned that orders are expected to be placed at a subdued level throughout 2025. That is despite the ambiguity that continues to support the trailer market pause for the past year, she noted, made worse by the policy shifting of the past few months.

Nevertheless, this didn’t shift her expectations due to the weaker for-hire truck market fundamentals, low used equipment valuations, relatively full dealer inventories and high interest rates.

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“I do think the impending tariffs have got everybody very nervous, and so, I expect that our orders are going to start to drop,” said Utility Trailer’s Steve Bennett, shown at TMC’s annual meeting in Nashville, Tenn. (John Sommers II for Transport Topics)

“February came in pretty strong on all products,” said Steve Bennett, president and chief operating officer at Utility Trailer Manufacturing Co. “So that was great. I do think the impending tariffs have got everybody very nervous, and so, I expect that our orders are going to start to drop. So it hasn’t happened yet, but I’m absolutely anticipating it.”

[March State of the Industry: U.S. Trailers Preliminary Update] – Preliminary Net Trailer Orders in February Lower M/M and Y/Y

Read more from the preliminary update here: https://t.co/TqnWjPWXFt pic.twitter.com/xSWZNkf4pD

— ACT Research (@actresearch) March 18, 2025

Utility Trailer reported strong order activity for the month at more than 4,500 reefers, dry vans and flatbeds. This was consistent with the previous month and up 30% year over year. Bennett expects orders to slow as costs increase due to the newly implemented tariffs and duties. The implementation of these tariffs also is resulting in higher prices for critical materials such as both domestic and imported steel and aluminum.

“From Jan. 2, when we did our standard pricing, to today, steel and stainless steel are up a full 30%,” Bennett said. “That’s a pretty big impact. I think that’s why a lot of our vendors are pushing forward surcharges and kind of immediate price increases.”

Utility Trailer also has unveiled an update to its trailer telematics platform to help customers better navigate the market. Utility TrailerConnect is being expanded with a new basic option alongside its legacy pro version. It also introduced a new retrofit program that allows existing trailers to be updated with this solution.

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Lairsen 

“Surprisingly, we haven’t seen a huge downturn, and in fact we’ve seen some nice gains and new business and new growth,” said Brandon Lairsen, vice president of trailer leasing at Transport Enterprise Leasing. “Some of that has been more in the works over a longer period and has finally started shaking out or coming to fruition, so that’s been encouraging.

“We’re still continuing to see our idle fleet of trailers shrink to the number that we’re targeting from a budget perspective and making nice headway to that end in what is still a very difficult trailer market, or a very soft trailer market.”

Lairsen pointed out that the first two months of the year historically have been slow for the trailer leasing space. Much of that has to do with there being a surplus of companies trying to shed their trailers once the holiday shipping season is over. Those conditions don’t tend to start improving until the sector gets past early March.

“We’re seeing prices of trailers continue to come down,” Lairsen said. “The gap between retail and wholesale is continuing to shrink, and I think that’s just still evidence or fallout from the massive influx of capacity post-COVID.”

Lairsen suspects it could take another 12 to 18 months before capacity reaches a desirable equilibrium. He noted that part of that is due to ongoing headwinds such as the cyclical business environment and the prolonged freight recession. But now there are new challenges, including the ongoing tariff threats causing uncertainty in the markets.

“It’s got a lot of people on the sidelines and holding off to make decisions,” Lairsen said. “It remains to be seen how this shakes out. But initially, I thought, there was some saber-rattling there, and the longer this goes on, I think that the president is serious about short-term pain for long-term change and bringing manufacturing back into the United States. For that reason, I think it’s going to have a pretty detrimental impact on our business.”