Class 8 truck fleet growth has stalled

Carriers are delaying purchases

By Tom Stundza -- Purchasing, 2/27/2008 11:39:00 AM

Freight carriers, led by large fleets, are delaying the purchase of new Class 8 vehicles in the face of a possible recession, according to truck registration data from market research firm R.L. Polk & Co. posted on the Transport Topics website of the American Trucking Associations.

Registrations of new Class 8 trucks fell 37.8% percent in 2007 from 2006’s pace, and even more sharply — 54.6%— in the fourth quarter, as new Class 8 vehicle registrations for carriers with 101 or more power units dropped 44.6%. Registrations by the smallest fleets, those with one to five trucks, fell 18.6%.

The new data show fleet operators are keeping a tight grip on equipment in the face of rising fuel costs and sluggish business growth. “People that are buying trucks are replacing something that went out of service. There was no business expansion,” said Gary Meteer Sr., director of the commercial vehicle group at Polk.

Some prominent truckload fleets, such as J.B. Hunt Transport Services and Werner Enterprises, have been cutting back on the number of trucks in their fleets while shifting more business to intermodal and brokering freight to other carriers.