ACT Research For-Hire Trucking Index: Rates Slip Amid Strong Holiday Freight The latest release of ACT’s For-Hire Trucking Index, with December data, showed improvement in for-hire freight volumes and utilization, with 55.5 and 52.3 respective diffusion index readings, both up four points from November on a seasonally adjusted basis. But even as for-hire capacity contracted […]

ACT Research: U.S. Trailer Net Orders Closed 2019 Down 51% vs Full-Year 2018 New US trailer orders of 18.4k were down 13% month-over-month in December, and after accounting for cancellations, net orders of 17.7k dropped 11%. Longer-term comparisons show net orders down 35% year-over-year and 51% lower compared to full-year 2018, according to this month’s […]

ACT Research: Recession Depends on the Definition: US Economy Poised for 1.8% Expansion According to ACT Research’s (ACT) latest State of the Industry: NA Classes 5-8 Report, ACT projects that the US economy is poised to expand by 1.8% in 2020.

ACT Research: December 2019 Preliminary U.S. Trailer Net Orders Down 13% M/M and 37% Lower Y/Y; Full-Year 2019 Less than Half of 2018 Volume ACT’s preliminary estimate for December 2019 indicates trailer manufacturers booked 17.2k net orders to their orderboards last month, a 13% decline from November volume. Activity was 37% below last December. For […]

ACT Research: Preliminary Used Class 8 Volumes and Prices Rise M/M Preliminary used Class 8 volumes (same dealer sales) increased 8% month-over-month in the final month of 2019, according to the latest preliminary release of the State of the Industry: U.S. Classes 3-8 Used Trucks published by ACT Research, but longer-term, volumes dropped 3% compared […]

Freight Forecast: ACT Research Achieves 98% Accuracy Truckload Spot Rate Forecasting in 2019 ACT Research released the January installment of the ACT Freight Forecast, U.S. Rate and Volume OUTLOOK report covering the truckload, intermodal, LTL and last mile sectors.

ACT Research: Class 8 Cyclicality Alive and Well, Including Regulatory Impacts According to ACT’s latest release of the North American Commercial Vehicle OUTLOOK, over the past decade, the EPA shifted its focus from the tailpipe to fuel economy. On January 6, the EPA released an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR), which promises the return […]

ACT Research: Preliminary Class 8 Order Intake Rose in December Preliminary NA Class 8 net orders in December 2019 were 20,000 units, up 14% from November and down just 6.5% from year-ago December, as the industry transitions to much easier year-over-year comparisons. Complete industry data for December, including final order numbers, will be published by […]