The Strick Trailer Corporation announced that it will extend its annual holiday shutdown this year until January 26, 2009.
“This was a very difficult decision to make,” marketing manager Ben Katz said. “However, given the current economic climate, we thought this was the best decision for all of our people and our organization.”
Strick already has several orders in place for the first quarter and plans to be operating from January 26th on.
“The good news is that Strick has no debt and plenty of cash and is in this business for the long run,” said Katz. “The truth is that none of our customers wanted trailers to be delivered in January, and given current market conditions we just could not justify building very many trailers for our own stock.”
While the management team does not expect standard 53’ dry van business to pick up much in 2009, they are optimistic about some new Strick products that include curtainside trailers as well as moving vans, chip vans and grain trailers.
“We continue to invest in new products and flexible manufacturing processes so that we can be less dependent on the extremely cyclical standard dry van business in the future,” said Katz.