Preliminary numbers for January trailer orders are in, and like the market for truck orders, trailer orders are hitting record levels.

ACT Research Co. has preliminary January numbers at 39,100 units, which would be the second-best month in industry history and was the best January on record.

“January net orders came in 22% better year-over-year,” said Frank Maly, ACT’s director of CV transportation analysis and research. “This continues a string of extremely solid order placement. November and December of last year, along with January of this year, rank as the third-, second-, and fifth-highest order months in industry history. Tight trucking capacity and solid freight rates are supporting both fleet needs and investment ability. Lengthening industry backlogs also encourage fleets to join industry orderboards,” he added.

While the majority of trailer categories posted positive year-over-year performance, reefers led the way last month. Maly noted that reefer net orders set an all-time monthly record, coming in 250% better than last January.

FTR has preliminary January orders in the 40,000 range for the third consecutive month. If the numbers hold when final orders are reported, this will be the first time in history that the industry has been at those levels in any 3-month period, FTR noted. FTR expects January order activity to raise backlogs to the highest level since March of 2016.

“The vibrant economy continues to produce sturdy freight growth and fleets are hurrying to add capacity. That has showed up in the truck numbers and even more in the trailer numbers,” said Don Ake, FTR’s vice president of commercial vehicles. “Carriers continue to add trailers as a way to increase total productivity. All trailer segments are now looking very bright for 2018.”