Trucking earnings up despite soft economy

From Fleet Owner Magazine

Jul 2011 12:02 PM, By Sean Kilcarr, senior editor 

Overall, carriers are reporting strong gains in revenues and earnings for the second quarter this year, with expectations that this trend should continue despite a softening of the U.S. economy.

“I would characterize the overall second quarter freight environment as a little choppy, but moving in an upward direction [while] pricing continued to be strong,” noted Henry Gerkens, chairman, president & CEO of Landstar System Inc., in the company’s quarterly earnings report.

Despite that “choppiness,” though, Landstar posted net income of $29.6 million on revenues of $675.6 million in the second quarter, compared to net income of $24.4 million on $541.7 million in revenues during the same period last year – contributing to a 27% jump in earnings per share, which Gerkens’ described as “the best second quarter earnings per share [62 cents] in Landstar history.”

He added that “recent trends in June, and thus far in July, indicate continued strength in revenue per load with a relatively stable increase in the number of loads hauled month over prior year month. I expect these trends to continue throughout the third quarter.”

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