November trailer orders increased compared to the previous months in the year. Despite the order figure being lower than the previous year, it was still an improvement based on this year's numbers. The released figures are not the final ones. The orders in November could be the highest at the end of 2021. The orders in January were the highest; therefore, November's orders could be first or second for the year.
The pandemic affected the supply chain very badly. Most manufacturers have not been able to meet the fleets' demand. The main reason is a lack of adequate capacity. As reported by Transport Topics, most companies will have to increase their production capacity to meet the market's needs. There is more confidence that the supply chain will be better in 2022. To create this balance, manufacturers must meet the demands of the fleets.
Great Dane is setting up some more production space in Pennsylvania. At the same time, Wabash is also setting up another production site in Minnesota. Likewise, Fruehauf opened a dry van plant in Kentucky. At Stoughton Trailers, the main task they handled was officially writing customer orders after a long while of holding onto the commitments. The companies are looking to expand to manage the backlog from the year's orders.
What to expect in the quarter one
The amount of labor available has increased in the course of the year. Because of the pandemic, the number of available job seekers had gone very low. The pricing of products has also become more stable, making the market favorable once again. With people trusting that the supply chain would be better, more demand will come from quarter one.
The backlog of orders headed into the New Year is quite big. According to Chris Hammond, the monthly figures do not represent the level of demand. The figures are just the orders being formally added to the backlog. Some orders will be pushed to the next year to accommodate the current capacity levels. The manufacturers' only way to handle the overwhelmed supply chain is capacity growth.
