ACT Research hosted its 74th commercial vehicle outlook seminar, Market Vitals: The Current & Future Health of the Industry, on February 18–19. The two-day seminar connects people from across the industry to discuss the current and future state of the industry.
Day 1 featured an OEM panel including Chris Hammond, Executive Vice President of Sales at Great Dane; Dave Sowers, Head of Ram Professional Operations at Stellantis; and Ryan Rockafellow, CEO at EnTrans International.
Panelists agreed that sentiment across the industry and with their customers has started to shift positive in January and February, but although truck utilization has gotten better and spot rates are up, the industry is questioning, “Is it real?” There is still an excess of equipment in the market, and carrier profitability is still down, so that means less capex spent on equipment. Expectations are that it will take at least a quarter or two before fleet profitability flips and equipment buying picks up.
During a dealer panel with Mike Jacques, Vice President at Inland Kenworth; Steve Oliver, VP of Sales & Marketing at Taylor & Martin; and Jacob Brazier, Senior Vice President, Sales at TEL, panelists discussed how and why 2025 was challenging, and why expectations for a turnaround are on the rise. Additionally, panelists shared the different revenue streams that provided a source of stability and resilience to counterbalance the downturn challenges.
The third panel of the day, with Matthew Leffler, Lawyer at Armchair Attorney LLC; Thom Albrecht, Chief Revenue Officer at Reliance Partners; and Anthony Johnson, President at Marvin Johnson & Associations, covered insurance and litigation pressures in the freight market. Panelists discussed the latest issues regarding nondomiciled CDLS, nuclear verdicts and motor carrier insurance.
Save the date for the next ACT Research Market Vitals Seminar on August 19–20, 2026.
ACT Research holds two seminars per year for the benefit of its N.A. CV OUTLOOK and Freight Forecast: U.S. Rate and Volume OUTLOOK subscribers. The N.A. CV OUTLOOK is a robust report that forecasts the future of the industry, looking at the next 1-5 years, with the objective of giving OEMs, Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers and investment firms the information needed to plan accordingly for what is to come. The monthly ACT Freight Forecast report provides analysis and forecasts for a broad range of U.S. freight measures, including the Cass Freight Index, Cass Truckload Linehaul Index and DAT spot and contract rates by trailer type. The service provides monthly, quarterly and annual predictions for the TL, LTL and intermodal markets over a two- to three-year time horizon, including capacity, volumes and rates.