The crisis in the semi-trailer market continues, and hopes for an improvement after the vacation season have not materialized. The very limited demand is in addition very irregular and can change from week to week. This is influenced by the lack of improvement in the situation of carriers. The only situations for buying new semi-trailers are postponed replacement of fleets, and in used semi-trailers the replacement of used vehicles with newer ones at a favorable low price.
Up to and including September, 12,291 new semi-trailers were registered in Poland. That’s a drop of 32.9% year-on-year. The biggest losses were suffered by curtainsiders (5,967 units, -41.2% y/y) and box semi-trailers and reefers (2,596 units, -43.4% y/y). Other categories of trailers are not seeing such large reductions, but there is a noticeable drop in interest in tippers and tankers, which will probably affect their worse year-end registration results. The share of universal curtainsiders is clearly declining and is already close to the record low of the pandemic period.
The used semi-trailer market can’t cope with the problems either. Transportation companies’ pessimism directly translates into limited purchases of used vehicles. They are plentiful on the yards, so prices continue to fall sharply, especially in curtainsiders (-23.1% y/y), reefers (-8.7% y/y) and tippers (-14.8%).
These results are not surprising given the sales mix in Poland. Curtainsaiders are the backbone of international transport, which is currently having the most problems. Mega versions are selling extremely hard. Demand for reefers is low, but fairly stable. What is new is the accelerated decline in the value of tippers. This is due to the saturation of the market for large-volume semi-trailers, and they are currently seeing the greatest depreciation. An increase in the value of low-loader semi-trailers is also noticeable, but this is a very small and specialized market, not sensitive to the international situation. In addition to this, a new phenomenon is the big drop in the value of tankers, especially chemical and fuel tankers, something we haven’t seen in a long time. The market has already saturated with vehicles purchased in recent years, and chemical tankers are supplying an unstable economy. Only food tankers and lying silos (cement carriers) are maintaining their market values or even increasing slightly. This may indicate a slight recovery in the construction industry.
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