COLUMBUS, Ind. — According to this month’s issue of ACT Research’s State of the Industry: U.S. Trailers report, end-of-2025 challenges remained on the horizon as the trailer industry entered 2026.
“Cancellations gyrated between earth and outer space through most of 2025, before returning to a more subdued rate, 1.8% as a percentage of backlog, in December,” said Jennifer McNealy, director–CV market research & publication, ACT. “The new year opened with a still elevated but more stable 1.6% rate in January. Data continued to show elevated cancellations in the dry van and tank segments.”
“For a second consecutive month, net orders significantly outpaced build, pumping some life into the anemic backlogs on the books through most of 2025,” McNealy said.. “Backlogs rose more than 18% sequentially, or about 12k units, ending January at 75,500 units.”
“As we move into 2026, the trailer industry faces relatively weak demand/order activity, financing concerns, tariffs known, the uncertainty of tariffs to come, weak carrier profits and still low freight volumes, in a period of constrained capital spending balanced against high input costs,” McNealy said. “However, the uptick in net orders the past two months has built the backlog queue and given industry leaders reason to believe that 2026 could be the year of transition that everyone has been hoping to have.”
Dana Guthrie is an award-winning journalist who has been featured in multiple newspapers, books and magazines across the globe. She is currently based in the Atlanta, Georgia, area.
