Dive Brief:
- Wabash’s latest product offerings aim to help shippers, third-party logistics providers and carriers procure trailers without long-term costs, according to an Oct. 9 press release.
- One option, TaaS Pools, offers shippers access to a nationwide pool of trailers for their operations, which is expected to reduce dwell times and ensure consistent trailer availability. Another option, TaaS Plus, is meant to allow 3PLs and brokers to act like asset carriers but without the cost and maintenance burden of owning equipment.
- “With TaaS Pools and TaaS Plus, we are taking another step forward in helping shippers, carriers and 3PLs overcome today’s supply chain challenges with confidence,” Mike Pettit, chief growth officer at Wabash, said in the release.
Dive Insight:
Trailer-as-a-service offerings continue to attract shipping stakeholders.
As an example, ITS Logistics recently expanded its DropFleet trailer service as more shippers showed increased interest in a hybrid capacity approach for optimized logistics. The expansion in offerings could suggest shippers and carriers need trailers without the extra hurdles involved with owning the equipment.
“The trucking and logistics industry is under pressure to do more with less. Shippers and 3PLs are looking for ways to add capacity quickly, manage costs and improve service without being locked into long-term asset ownership,” Pettit said in an email.
At the same time, trailer orders have been decreasing as market uncertainty grows.
Last month, U.S. net trailer orders dropped 19% year over year, according to FTR’s monthly report. Buyers are delaying purchasing as they wait for more certainty amid the Trump administration’s ongoing tariff actions, per the report.
“Moreover, the Section 232 tariffs on steel, aluminum and copper — explicitly expanded in August to include non-U.S. content in trailers and components — are driving higher input costs, margin compression and consolidation pressures,” FTR Senior Analyst of Commercial Vehicles Dan Moyer said in the report.
