The trailer industry, already in the economic cycle before the COVID-19 epidemic, has been forced to increase production and replace production processes as the pandemic begins.
But if history repeats itself, the industry could head toward a long recovery as the economy recovers, said Sean Kenney, Hyundai Translead’s sales manager.
Before the public aptitude crisis, the trailer manufacturer was already expecting the general market site to fall 20 percent from last year, Kenney said. The company now expects the market site to fall lower under those projections, the scenario is too fluid to make accurate forecasts.
When corporations began their final doors to help save the spread of the virus, fleets whose markets would be particularly affected without delay to save money, regardless of their size.
“I think consumers urgently need the pause button on the needs of new appliances for apparent reasons,” Kenney said. “The other people in the dry van are definitely in money-saving mode and make sure they can face the storm.”
He said sales to consumers of refrigerated carriers also declined before the pandemic. After years of growth, the market had to go through a correction. During the pandemic, carriers serving in enclosed places such as ball stadiums faced the greatest challenges.
Kenney stated that the last time sales were very low in 2008 and 2009, and the years of decline preceded the industry’s longest recovery cycle. He said operators saw the existing scenario as a “pause in action,” but consumers said it could take up to 24 months to return to the first quarter before COVID this year.
“No one raises their hand, however, they are in a position to return the cargo and the market,” Kenney said.
Like Hyundai Translead, Great Dane Trailers has noticed a replacement in visitors’ habit as a result of the pandemic.
While “the whole industry took a break,” the peak decline was among food service operators whose consumers closed their doors, said Chris Hammond IV, executive vice president of sales.
Hammond said the towing consumer business is booming, but they are involved in the future.
“The consumers I spoke to felt that the back of the truck is passing and they expect their business to run through the opening of the economy,” he said. “Of course, everyone is involved in a series of COVID-19 closures and the slowdown that would result.”
Page
While wonderful uncertainty persists, Wabash National Corp. is in a position to do business “in any kind of market that materializes,” said Kevin Page, senior vice president of visitor pricing.
“[Customers] have had to deal with incredibly busy fluctuations when consumers have emptied the shelves before government-imposed housing orders, to go through a bountiful market easition with the closure of business and now prepare for a buildup of volumes as states reopen their economies,” he said.
Page stated that brokers’ shares are higher than the same and that consumers largely manage capital expenditures. However, the company believes that consumers should maintain the average age of their trailers “at moderate levels” for power reasons and to attract drivers.
David Giesen of Stoughton Trailers, vice president of sales, said the company’s top fleet consumers had largely maintained the course of their aircraft plans, although some interrupted the closure.
At East Manufacturing, Doug Kenney, National Fleet Sales Manager, said many fleets in the platform market had postponed their purchases and that some production orders had been cancelled or delayed.
In addition to sales, the pandemic has affected the processes of trailer manufacturers.
The two Hyundai Translead plants in Mexico only briefly closed to seriously disinfect the facility, Kenney said. Factories have doctors and nurses on their staff, and workers on Hyundai ferries, reducing their dependence on public transportation. Employees were given a new mask every day and their temperature was taken daily, which was tracked over time. People with a fever can’t come to work. Social estrangement is practiced whenever possible, with workers running in close contact dressed in face protectors.
Kenney
When asked about layoffs, Kenney said, “We’ve had some rationalization of capacity, but nothing on a gigantic scale.”
Kenney claimed that the company had only faced minor problems in obtaining portions from suppliers and that it had had no problem providing maintenance through distributors and service providers. When asked if there would be long-term adjustments to trailer design after the pandemic, he said his company’s trailers already have antimicrobial coating generation and will evaluate other desires as they arise.
“At this time, I don’t know of any express adjustments that we anticipate or that our consumers request in reaction to COVID-19,” he said.
Great Dane cited a decrease in demand for trailers for food service fleets serving restaurants that closed the pandemic. (John Sommers II for shipping subjects)
At Great Dane, some workers returned to corporate offices in Savannah, Georgia, Hammond said. The offices had been ready with social estrangement marks, and the company had set limits on the number of other people in the spaces. Employees had to control their temperatures every morning. Corporate portions and other services had changed their processes to protect consumers and workers.
Stoughton Trailers has also made adjustments to its production processes. Employee temperatures were monitored at facility entrances and the company provided a full-time health care provider on site. Another full-time 12-person cleaning team created to disinfect the facility. Online painting spaces have been reorganized to allow 6-foot separations, and departure and rest times have been staggered to inspire social remoteness. The company has also established a COVID-19 organization that meets daily.
Giesen
“There have been demanding situations with childcare, confusion with state orders and adaptation to the new normal,” Giesen said. “But at the end of the day, our workforce has come and continues to do so every week. With all the movements implemented throughout the company, we were able to keep acceptance as true with our staff that we have their most productive interest in mind.
East Manufacturing stopped operating for 4 weeks “due to an over-distrustful to help our employees, their families and our customers,” Kenney said.
“We restarted our production lines on April 20, state-demanded social estrangement and more sanitation and clean-up measures,” he said. “We have been able to gradually increase production rates and are now operating at a consistent capacity with the existing point of activity.”
The fleets contacted for this tale had replaced their procurement cycles, but they had only made small adjustments to their maintenance practices.
CFI, which operates 7, two hundred dry van trailers, orders around 700 trailers a year, however, this year it has ordered two hundred in the next 3 to 4 months. It remains to be noted whether the company will order more.
Cornell
“We don’t need to outdo ourselves,” said Randy Cornell, vice president of maintenance. “We can buy trailers at any time. We don’t have to buy 700 a year. We can buy two hundred this year, and we can buy a thousand next year if necessary. But we just have to make sure it doesn’t overdo it, and see what the economy is going to do, and then we can adjust our plans up or down accordingly.”
Cornell stated that the company had not made adjustments to its towing inspection checklist and maintenance practices. The company offers quality products (galvanized steel that painted, composite floors that hardwood) and expects to last. He said some fixed department stores have limited their hours and have smaller staff, however this has not been difficult.
CFI is a component of Montreal-based TFI International, which ranks 11th among the 100 largest passenger carriers in North America.
The main effect of the Maverick USA tray carrier was the acquisition of trailers already ordered late through the closure of production plants.
Vice President Mike Jeffress said trailer suppliers are making every effort to accelerate postponed deliveries. The used market is recessed, but Jeffress said the company believes that was the case before the pandemic.
Maverick USA Vice President Mike Jeffress said trailer suppliers were accelerating late deliveries. (Maverick United States)
He claimed maverick owns 2,200 trailers and has a 10-year acquisition cycle, which he has not replaced due to the pandemic.
Maverick, founded in North Little Rock, Arkansas, and No. 76 on the TT100 for rent, has made other procedural changes, adding the provision of non-public protective devices for team members and disinfection within its popular repair time. It also made team members aware of how providers are affected and how service providers have implemented precautions to restrict the viral exposure of their own employees.
When asked if any of those maintenance adjustments would be the economic and pandemic recession, Jeffress noted that while what is happening is significant, the carrier will not take any resolution to replace a new procedure due to the economy.
“Going back to previous practice would not be our project to ‘be a component of the solution, not the problem’,” he said.
Royal Jones, owner of Mesilla Valley Transportation, which owns 5,300 trailers, said his company in Las Cruces, N.M., had no locations to fix and had no challenge in locating brands willing to produce more.
“I guess if you needed it now, anyone would help you till tomorrow,” he says. “Everyone’s dying to buy something new now.”
Royal Jones, owner of Mesilla Valley Transportation, said the company had no locations to fix the fleet or brands willing to produce more. (Transport of the Mesilla Valley)
Jones said in March that he fights every day for empty spaces in El Paso, Texas, the center of his outgoing cargo. Then came the pandemic, and in April it had between six hundred and 700 trailers in El Paso and between two hundred and three hundred in Laredo, Texas. Estimated that their percentage of dead heads in April reached 22% to 23% instead of their overall 7% to 8%. But the slowdown gave him the possibility to carry out more maintenance.
“We didn’t think he was going to stay forever, so he gave us a chance to catch up to make sure we were up to date,” he said.
How can fleet managers use generation to better handle vehicle speed and protection culture? Host Seth Clevenger talks to Mathieu Boivin of E-Smart and Jonathan Hubbard of SpeedGauge. Listen to an excerpt from above and get the full program by visiting RoadSigns.TTNews.com.
MVT holds the No. on the TT100 for rent.
Jeff Harris, vice president of maintenance at USA Truck, said the carrier has also taken steps to protect its drivers and technicians. Drivers should wear hand sanitizers, masks and latex gloves, and canned food and water are stored so they can eat on the road. Technicians also have access to non-public protective devices and are advised to wear a mask when leaving their areas. The points marked in the workshop help them practice social distance.
USA Truck, founded in Van Buren, Arkansas, and No. 67 on the TT100 rental, attempts to upgrade its trailers every 10 years to avoid deterioration such as delamination, when the trailer swells sideways, Harris said.
The company repositioned its trailer maintenance processes beyond cleaning the upper contact points, carriage crank handles and rear door handles. The carrier, which owns 5,500 trailers, also placed an order for new trailers this year after replacing about 250 last year.
“We have room to do it. We just haven’t done it so far,” he said.
He later added: “Everyone has been very close since the third quarter of 2019 or so. You have to keep an eye on your expenses.”
Want some more news? Listen to today’s summary:
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Spotify (c) Amazon Alexa Google Assistant More