I might have been hallucinating, but I think I heard someone say the other day that Cottrell Trailers is putting out six or eight trailers a day. I have no idea how much Boydstun is making up there in Portland, but the other day when I was talking to Mark Mecklam, he had about thirty seconds before he had to take another call.
That Cottrell number might not be far off the mark. I was talking to someone at Rush Truck Center the other day and he said he wasn't having trouble getting new Peterbilts, but getting trailers was like pulling teeth.
Haven't talked to Jakes in a while, but if these guys are THIS busy, Jakes Truck Center will be ten times as busy. He was busy when everything was slumping a while back.
I have no corroboration on those numbers from Cottrell Trailers, but if they're true, and if Boydstun is as busy as they seem, I've got to believe it has to do with the 2007 emission standards for commercial trucks.
A reliable source says Freightliner's North Carolina plant is pumping out over 200 tractors a day. 200 Freightliners a day!
Seems as if every fleet in the country decided to upgrade at the same time.