Truck Manufacturers Ramping Up Production -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

A truck manufacturer on the west coast is ramping up production. I don't have a link but a very reliable source says the company has told blue-collar workers to start expecting an opportunity for more overtime later this summer. In addition, the company just completed a recent new hire exercise. I can't provide the name of the company, but a truck manufacturer that fits the geographic location is here.

This was predicted back in November, 2010.

North American commercial truck production may climb as much as 56 percent in 2011 as owners refresh the oldest U.S. fleet in at least 31 years, boosting sales at Paccar Inc. and partsmakers such as Columbus-based Cummins Inc.

Output of Class 8 trucks, the workhorses of interstate hauling, may reach as many as 235,000 units in the U.S., Canada and Mexico next year from an estimated 151,000 in 2010, said Kenny Vieth, partner at market forecaster ACT Research Co.

Rising freight rates and volumes are helping rekindle demand after the worst recession since the Great Depression. A 2006 production surge to a record 376,448 units before new U.S. emissions rules took effect helped create a glut heading into the economic slump, leaving some trucks parked for two years.

Folks can come up with their own ideas why this is happening, but I think a significant reason has to do with mining and oil exploration in North America.

I cannot even begin to quantify the increase in trucks in the Bakken around Williston, but then multiply this by fields in the Marcellus, Niobrara (Colorado/Wyoming), the Mississippi Lime (Kansas/Oklahoma) and the Eagle Ford (south Texas).

I just completed a stand-along post on all the trucking that will be required when EOG's fracking sand plant in Wisconsin opens later this year.