Trucking Companies Pump the Brakes on New Truck Orders

​Orders of big-rigs declined in November to a fourteen-month low, the first monthly decline in 2018. Orders for Class 8 heavy-duty trucks, the type used for regional and long-haul routes, totaled 27,900 last month, a 36% decline from October and a 15% decline from the prior November, according to data supplied by ACT Research.

​The November slump capped a several-month-long increase in Class 8 truck orders as demand for trucking services surged with the booming economy. Earlier in the year, trucking companies were scrambling to meet this demand, ordering 468,000 new trucks through the first eleven months, an 81% increase from 2017, and peaking at 53,040 in August.
 
However, this recent decline in orders could signal the beginning of a slow trucking market. In fact, demand declined in November at a double-digit rate from the same month a year before. Typically, the fourth quarter of the year is the strongest for new heavy-duty truck orders. However, this seasonality may be shifted due to the bulk of orders being submitted earlier in the year to meet demand.