EDITOR’S NOTE

CREATING CAPACITY

MATERIALS AND COMPONENTS supplies as well as staffing issues are generating headwinds for US OEMs as they seek to increase production but struggle to achieve their targets, a report has revealed. Frank Maly, Director – CV Transportation Analysis and Research at ACT Research – said these staffing challenges may be easing and the upcoming end of supplemental employments benefits could improve workplace availability. As for pricing and availability of components and materials, this is driving up the price of trailers and is also resulting in a build-up of red-tag units with the volume of these units expected to grow in the months to follow. Rightfully so, Maly is concerned about the causes of 2022 order uncertainty (future availability, pricing, unwillingness of OEMs to accept future orders). He said pentup demand is also occurring due to the reluctance to accept dry van and refrigerated trailer orders. Taking a look at the nation’s economy, US Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, at the time of writing, issued a fresh plea for Congress to raise the federal debt ceiling, arguing a default on US debt would trigger a historic financial crisis. A default in this instance has potential to compound damage from the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and plunge the US economy into recession. If this were to eventuate Yellen said the US would emerge from the crisis a permanently weaker nation and that US creditworthiness has been a strategic advantage. While Yellen did not confirm a timeline for this default situation, even October was previously touted – when the Treasury exhausts its cash reserves and extraordinary borrowing capacity under the $28.4 trillion USD debt limit – she did mention that economic damage would likely fall on consumers through higher borrowing costs and lower asset prices. The US, according to Yellen, can borrow more cheaply than almost any other country – defaulting would jeopardise this enviable fiscal position. It would also make America a more expensive place to live.

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