Editorial: The Growing Class 8 Fleet

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t is becoming clear that the nation’s heavy-duty truck fleet is slowly but inexorably growing, in response to fleets being able to cover their costs and earn reasonable profits.

While the rate of increase is not swift enough to satisfy the shippers who are unhappy with still-tight capacity in the carrier industry and who believe the fleets are clinging to a pricing advantage, new data show there has been a marked increase in the size of the Class 8 fleet.

R.L. Polk & Co. reported last week that there were 4.7% more heavy-duty trucks on the road in the United States in the third quarter of this year than in the same period of 2004.

The latest results represent the fourth consecutive expansion of the Class 8 fleet since the last three months of 2004. More important, each quarter has shown an increase in the rate of growth — from 1.9% at the end of last year, to 2.9% in the first quarter of 2005 and 3.4% at the middle of the year.

Thus, at the end of September there were 149,000 more Class 8 trucks in use than there were in September of 2004. So far this year the number of new trucks registered has increased 22.9% over the end of 2004.

America now has more than 3.29 million big trucks, according to Polk, which compiles the data by counting registrations.

The Polk data show that both new and used truck registrations continue to expand. This growth, the automotive information and marketing company said, “is indicative of a good economic environment.” Class 8 trucks are used both for freight hauling and in the construction and refuse industries.

The good thing is that business also appears to be growing, at least at a rate that is keeping all these new trucks busy, as illustrated by the October tonnage report from American Trucking Associations. (Click here for related story.)

That the national fleet has been getting bigger at an increasing rate — even as fuel prices have risen steadily, interest rates have gone up and the driver shortage has only grown more severe — is testament to the overall strength of the economy. Apparently, the strong showing convinced fleets to keep investing in new equipment all the while.

And the good news keeps on coming. The most recent economic data show increased consumer confidence and spending, which bodes well going into 2006. That should keep fleets buying equipment.

This editorial appears in the Dec. 5 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.