Earnings Watch: Saia Earnings Up, C.H. Robinson Down

As more trucking companies report third quarter earnings, most are showing profits are down from the same time a year ago – but there are a few exceptions.

The less-than-truckload feet Saia Inc. (NASDAQ: SAIA) reported net income increased to $13.8 million from $11.8 million. Earnings per share increased to 54 cents from 46 cents, 4 cents better than a consensus estimate from analysts.

Revenue moved down just 0.2% from a year earlier to $316 million, while operating income increased to $22.6 million from $19.8 million.

"Third quarter operating results reflect our continued pricing discipline and our company-wide efforts aimed at achieving operating efficiencies across all areas of our network," said Saia President and CEO Rick O'Dell, citing year-over-year improvements in dock, city and linehaul productivity.

He said freight rates increased an average of 5.7% on contractual renewals in the quarter. In early October the Georgia-based company implemented a general rate increase of 4.9%.

During the quarter LTL shipments per workday fell by 1.2%, and LTL tonnage per workday declined by 2.9%, while LTL yield increased 3.7%.

"Though the economic environment continues to offer only tepid growth, I was encouraged to see our LTL shipment trend turn positive in September for the first time since February," O'Dell said.

In contrast, earnings for third-party logistics provider C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ: CHRW) fell by 7.5% to $129 million in the third quarter from the same time a year ago, while revenue declined 5.1% to $558.5 million due to lower freight rates.

Earnings per share totaled 90 cents in the most recent quarter, 7 cents short of Wall Street expectations and down from 96 cents a year earlier.

“We expected a challenging pricing environment in 2016 as shippers focus on reducing their transportation costs," said John Wiehoff, CEO and chairman. "Despite the decrease in ...Read the rest of this story

The pain and possible gain from trucking regulations

There's no doubt a tremendous number of “big ticket” regulations coming together to hammer the trucking industry in some truly enormous ways: the electronic logging device (ELD) mandate; speed limiting devices; the now-official Phase 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) rules that will read more

Modagrafics introduces new Rapidus fleet graphics app

Large format fleet graphics provider Modagrafics introduced a new tool for monitoring and coordinating the installation of fleet graphics across multiple locations.

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Yokohama adds four new tire sizes

Yokohama Tire Corp. recently added four new sizes to its 104ZR line of urban/regional all-position/steer tire line-up: the 225/70R19.5, 245/70R19.5, 265/70R19.5 and 285/70R19.5.

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ATA Names 33 America’s Road Team Finalists

American Trucking Associations has named 33 professional truck drivers as finalists to become captains on the 2017-2018 America's Road Team.

The America's Road Team is a group of professional truck drivers that have superior safety records. The group was created in 1986 to represent the trucking industry and is sponsored by Volvo Trucks.

“These professional drivers were chosen as finalists for America's Road Team because they are proven industry ambassadors with long safety records and professionalism that projects a positive image of our industry's 3.5 million truck drivers,” said Chris Spear, ATA president and CEO. “America's Road Team will continue to serve as a voice for the trucking industry and build on its 30-year legacy of educating the public on highway safety and the trucking industry's important role in our economy.”

The 33 chosen drivers will move on to the final selection process, being held Jan. 8-12 in Arlington, Va. A panel of industry officials and trucking news media will judge the contestants on their knowledge of the trucking industry, dedication to safety, ability to communicate the industry's messages and overall safe driving record.

The newly chosen 2017-2018 America's Road Team will be announced on January 12. New Captains, after receiving a navy blue America's Road Team blazer, will begin sharing the industry's message of safety, essentiality and sustainability with the motoring public, media, business groups, public officials and their fellow truck drivers around the country.

“Being named a finalist for America's Road Team is a major achievement for professional truck drivers and ATA congratulates each of them for this accomplishment,” said Elisabeth Barna, ATA COO and executive vice president of industry affairs. “On this list you'll find drivers with millions of safe-driving miles, state truck driving championship winners, community leaders and role models in their companies.”

To be nominated as an America's Road Team ...Read the rest of this story

How A. Duie Pyle Manages Warehouse Information

A. Duie Pyle's dock management system, or DMS, in use. It works hand in hand with Route Planning Solutions to get freight where it needs to be faster.

A. Duie Pyle created its own dock management system that shows every dock, every trailer, and every pallet position within each trailer, leading to fewer misplaced shipments and quicker movements across the dock.

Once a truck departs, mobile tracking technology offers real-time visibility of shipment status. Combined with new routing software, this improves distribution efficiency and reduces planning time, overhead, and wasted mileage, and gives the company a vast amount of information it can use.

“Most carriers, if not all, look at an eight-pallet shipment with one pro number,” explains Randy Swart, chief operating officer. “However, on a dock, those pallets get handled individually and can get set in different locations. Our system allows us to individually label each of those pallets at pickup. If we stage it in the warehouse we know where all eight pieces are. If somebody tries to put a piece in the wrong trailer, when they scan it, it will tell them it's in the wrong trailer.”

With the traditional method of tracking by the shipment, he says, you wouldn't know it went into the wrong trailer until it was too late — when only seven of the eight pieces were unloaded at the receiving dock.

The DMS also tracks which employee moves which piece, creating greater accountability. In addition, each piece is tracked by weight, which helps load the freight evenly.

The second piece of the system is Route Planning Solutions, or RPS. Routes are designed so they can be loaded in the exact order that the driver needs to deliver in. It allows the company to assign ETAs to every stop, so customers can plan better.

“We used to deliver about 48% ...Read the rest of this story

What Smart Tanker Fleets Are Spec’ing

Bulkmatic Transport is retrofitting all 1,300 trailers with LED GloLight tail lamps for better visibility and reliability. Photo: Optronics

Owners of tank trailers keep them a long time. All the more reason to make sure when you buy a new one, you're getting the best possible trailer for your operations for the price — the most “bang for your buck,” says Dan Flanagan, vice president of maintenance for Bulkmatic Transport, the largest dry bulk carrier in North America.

“You need to check with your vendors, with trailer makers, every year, because things change,” he says, with advancements in everything from suspensions and landing gear to upper couplers and metal thickness of the vessels. “To think that you can order the same vessel or pneumatic trailer every year – you can't. You've got to find out what's out there every year and if it's worth it.”

Fleets want a trailer that's going to be reliable over a long life, but other key areas to examine in the spec'ing process include safety, lightweight options, and fuel efficiency.

“In general, tanker fleets are very interested in safety technology, and especially so within the hazmat sector,” says Polar's Koll. “Tanker fleets in general gravitate to the high end of technology when it comes to spec'ing components on trailers, both for safety and longevity.”

Tank trailer buyers are increasingly spec'ing such items as roll stability, antilock brakes, air disc brakes, and better lighting.

Rollovers are a concern with tankers because of the high center of gravity, so Koll says Polar continues to work to design trailers with lower centers of gravity.

Roll stability control is standard on all of Wabash's trailer brands — Walker, Beall, Brenner and Bulk, notes Jim Miller, vice president of sales for Wabash National's tank trailer business, and he says customer requests for disc brakes are on the rise.

At ...Read the rest of this story