COLUMBUS, Ind. — While the medium-to long-term future promises to be filled with demand-impacting regulatory potholes, the market is already beginning to feel the storm surge of the coming regulatory hurricane, as published in the latest release of the North American Commercial Vehicle OUTLOOK.
“With February’s confirmation of ongoing strength in Class 8 orders, amongst other supportive signs, the U.S. Class 8 tractor market is experiencing demand pulling forward in 2024,” said Kenny Vieth, ACT’s president and senior analyst. “With February orders underscoring the ongoing above-demand-level trend in an otherwise overcapacitized US tractor market, further corroboration of evidence leads us to believe that pre-buying is being driven by private fleets, as for-hire load-to-truck ratios and freight rates, plus ACT’s Public TL Carrier Database, confirm the continuation of profoundly bad for-hire freight economics.”
Private fleets’ longer trade cycles are supportive of more aggressive capacity planning three years ahead of the EPA’s 2027 Clean Truck mandate, Vieth noted.
“The strength in private fleet demand and expansion is fueled by both strong corporate profits and pandemic-era for-hire capacity constraints,” he said. “Private fleet capacity additions were a major story in 2023 that appears set to continue through 2024.”
Born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and raised in East Texas, John Worthen returned to his home state to attend college in 1998 and decided to make his life in The Natural State. Worthen is a 20-year veteran of the journalism industry and has covered just about every topic there is. He has a passion for writing and telling stories. He has worked as a beat reporter and bureau chief for a statewide newspaper and as managing editor of a regional newspaper in Arkansas. Additionally, Worthen has been a prolific freelance journalist for two decades, and has been published in several travel magazines and on travel websites.
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