Sep 1, 2009 3:17 PM

Net orders for commercial trailers in July 2009 increased 4% from June 2009 and 16% from July 2008, according to the latest State of the Industry: US Trailers report issued by ACT Research Co LLC. The year-over-year gain is the first recorded in 2009 as the industry is now overlapping very weak comparisons from the second half of 2008. Year-to-date through July, net orders for commercial trailers are still down 39% from the same period in 2008.

“Demand for commercial trailers continues to be soft as there remains excess capacity and weak profits in the freight transportation industry,” said Kenny Vieth, partner and senior analyst with ACT Research. “The current order levels are less than half of the normalized industry replacement rate, but with seven of nine trailer types tracked posting increases in new orders from June to July, it appears demand is beginning to move in the right direction, if incrementally.”

For more information, go to www.actresearch.net/.