April’s new truck sales marked the 28th straight month of year-over-year gains, keeping the market ahead 29.9% ahead of like-2011performance for the year, according to a news story posted on WardsAuto.com. The volume of 28,437 units in April marked a 38.9% rise from the like-2011 level....More

According to ACT Research Co. LLC (ACT), net orders for North American Class 6-8 trucks for April were down from the month before. The final numbers, which will be released in mid-May, will approach 17,200 units for Class 8 trucks and 8,600 for Class 6-7 vehicles, reported ACT, which noted preliminary net order numbers are typically accurate to within 5% of actual....More

By all measures queried in the just-released fifth annual Transcore DAT Broker Benchmark Survey, 2011 turned out to be a second positive year in a row for non-asset based brokers, broker-carriers and 3PLs alike....More

Preliminary figures on net truck orders for March released today by ACT Research Co. LLC (ACT) showed that Class 8 orders “came in below expectations for a second consecutive month.” According to ACT, the final numbers, which will be released mid-April, will approach 20,000 units for heavy duty Class 8 trucks and 13,500 for médium-duty Class 5-7 vehicles. The research firm noted that its preliminary net order numbers are typically accurate to within 5% of actual....More

The American Trucking Assns.’ (ATA) advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index climbed 0.5% in February after falling 4.6% in January.  ATA noted that January’s decrease was more than the preliminary 4% drop the trucking lobby reported on February 28th. This latest gain puts the SA index at 119.3 (where 2000=100)--  and up from January’s level of 118.7.  Compared with February 2011, the SA index was up 5.5%, better than January’s 3.1% increase....More