Xtra Lease Plans to Buy 10,000 Trailers with $300M Investment

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Heavy Duty Trucking (HDT)  /  April 2, 2019

Xtra Lease announced that it will invest more than $300 million to purchase over 10,000 trailers in 2019, the largest capital investment made by the company for trailers in a single year.

With the purchase of new dry vans, reefers, flatbeds and chassis, Xtra Lease’s fleet will grow to approximately 85,000 trailers. New vans and reefers will be equipped with side skirts, air disc brakes and trailer tracking, free on all rentals and leases. All new vans include a cargo sensor, also a free service.

“We invest in new trailers every year to provide the youngest, most reliable fleet of rental trailers in the market,” said Bill Franz, president and CEO of Xtra Lease. “Our purchase this year will lower the average age of our over-the-road vans to 5.6 years. And our flatbed fleet will drop to an average age of 4.9 years.”

Xtra Lease’s 2019 purchase includes a mix of:

• 53- and 48-foot dry vans

• 53- and 48-foot liftgated vans

• 53-foot reefers

• 53- and 48-foot flatbeds

“Our goal is to ensure that fleets have access to quality trailers that they can count on to perform well with low maintenance,” he added. “A young fleet with disc brakes makes reliability a priority. Trailer tracking, fuel-saving side skirts and cargo sensors help fleets keep utilization high, costs low and drivers driving.”

Flatbed Overhaul

The fleet will get a significant boost with the addition of 1,400 new flatbeds in 2019, the largest flatbed investment by Xtra Lease in several years.

The company will add a variety of models, including:

• 53-foot spread-axle straight frame and single-drop flatbeds

• 48-foot tandem slider, spread-axle and single-drop flatbeds

• 48-foot 40-ton double-drop with hydraulic removable gooseneck, which is new to the XTRA Lease fleet

• 20/40-foot tridem chassis

New trailers are arriving at Xtra Lease branches now, and new production will continue to occur throughout the year.

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