Commercial tire segment shows promise after down year

Statistically speaking, 2023 was a down year for the commercial sector, with trucking activity off from previous years and double-digit declines in truck and bus tire shipments in the U.S. and Canada.

This year appears, based on early indicators, to offer more promise.

According to the American Trucking Associations' (ATA) latest market snapshot, freight traffic in February "snapped back" from a lackluster January, although the ATA cautioned that overall truck freight "remains in recession" as the ATA's monthly freight index has dropped for 12 consecutive months compared year over year.

Tonnage shipped by truck in the U.S. contracted 1.7% from 2022 levels, the ATA said in January, making 2023 the worst annual reading since 2020.

Aftermarket demand in the U.S. for medium truck tires should rebound this year after a double-digit decline in 2023, according to U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA) figures.

The Washington-based trade association — which represents a dozen tire companies with U.S.-based manufacturing capacities — said recently it expects replacement market shipments of medium truck/bus tires to rise 5.9% this year to 22 million units after plunging 22.5% last year versus 2022.

Despite the steep decline, replacement market truck/bus tire shipments of 20.6 million units last year still were greater than shipments in 2019 and 2020, according to the USTMA data.

Similarly, shipments of truck/bus tires in Canada dropped 25.5% last year versus 2022, according to the Tire and Rubber Association of Canada estimates.

In the U.S., aftermarket shipments of light truck tires are expected to grow as well, the USTMA said, rising 2.8% over 2023 to 35.2 million units. That total, however, will fall short of the totals in 2022 and 2021.

The USTMA did not provide reasons for its forecast, but some sources pointed to overstocked warehouses throughout the nation — the result of overzealous ordering in 2020-22 in light of the well-documented supply-chain issues that plagued the industry then — as having an impact on 2023 shipments.

Parallel to the drop in shipments last year, imports of truck/bus tires also tanked, falling 27.3% last year from 2022 and domestic production of light truck and truck/bus tires fell 11.3% and 8%, respectively.

One bright spot: estimated production of truck retreads was up slightly last year, according to the Tire Retread and Repair Information Bureau.

As for 2024, at least one company — Bridgestone Americas Inc. — anticipates a return to "normalcy," according to Steve Hoeft, president of Bridgestone Americas Inc.'s Commercial Truck Group, speaking to Tire Business.