Earnings Watch: Landstar, Forward Air, Hub Group, TFI, Patriot and Echo Global

At a time when many publicly held trucking companies are reporting lower, if not sharply lower, first quarter profits, one stood out among the herd of numbers released Wednesday while another saw a slight improvement in earnings.

Landstar System Inc. reported a couple of records on Wednesday as it announced first quarter profits amid what it described as a soft freight rate environment

Record first quarter earnings per share were 77 cents compared to 66 cents a year earlier while first quarter revenue also set a record of $781 million versus $711.6 million a year earlier.

Net income in the first three months of 2017 totaled $32.4 million, a 11% improvement from the same time last year.

The number of loads hauled via truck during the 2017 first quarter was also higher than any first quarter in Landstar history. The asset-light company also moves freight via railroads, ocean cargo carriers and air cargo carriers.

“As expected, the pricing environment for our truckload services continued to be soft in the 2017 first quarter, as industry-wide truck capacity continued to be readily available,” said Jim Gattoni, president and CEO. “However, the percentage change in year-over-year revenue per load on loads hauled via truck improved each month. Moreover, in February, the company experienced its first year-over-year monthly increase in truck revenue per load in two years.”

He said Landstar has experienced consistent load growth in loads hauled via truck throughout the 2017 first quarter and into the first several weeks of April.

“I expect that trend to continue and therefore expect the number of loads hauled via truck in the 2017 second quarter to increase in a mid to upper single digit range over the 2016 second quarter,” Gattoni said.

He said he also expects pricing conditions for truck services in the 2017 second quarter will continue to be soft ...Read the rest of this story

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PrePass InfoRM Tool Aggregates Safety and Inspection Data

Photo: Help Inc.

Help Inc., provider of PrePass, has launched the InfoRM business intelligence system as a value-added tool for carriers to view and leverage their safety data.

InfoRM (Information and Reports Manager) provides carriers with granular details on their truck inspections and safety information to help identify areas that need improvement and then take action.

InfoRM compiles Inspection Selection System score factors from the most current, accurate data sets and generates a company snapshot.

Designed for use on PCs and tablets, InfoRM provides data about roadside inspections to determine where, when, and why ISS safety scores might fluctuate. InfoRM's data includes CVIEW/SAFER carrier records maintained by FMCSA as well as information provided by more than 100 different government sources.

The data system is available to PrePass weigh station bypass customers at no additional cost. While safety data has always been available to PrePass customers, this is the first time the data has been aggregated in an interactive application.

InfoRM's company snapshot features an interactive map of truck inspection and violations filtered by state, city, and highway; filters to search by VIN number, site, violation type and other parameters to identify trends; and historical views of inspections and violations, with the ability to export data for reporting purposes.

“Fleets need a simple way to measure their performance and improve weigh state bypass rates,” said Karen Rasmussen, president and CEO of HELP. “InfoRM's data dashboards also enable fleets to create awareness across the organization, facilitating improvements in areas including vehicle maintenance, driver behavior, uptime and safety.”

Related: The Future of Tolling in America

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AFL-CIO Coalition Seeks to Clip Hair Testing

Photo: FMCSA

A coalition of 32 AFL-CIO member unions representing transportation workers is urging the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to deny a petition by several trucking companies to use hair specimens in lieu of federally mandated urine in pre-employment drug tests.

The Transportation Trades Department of AFL-CIO contends that the safety agency should “follow established protocol and put science first” by denying the petition filed back in October by Maverick Transportation, Knight Transportation, J.B. Hunt Transport Services and Dupré Logistics, all members of the Alliance for Driver Safety & Security, along with Schneider National and Werner Enterprises.

In comments filed on April 25, TTD pushed back against the petition, citing concerns about the reliability, accuracy and fairness of hair testing. The union coalition stated that studies show that hair testing can produce false results and may have an inherent racial bias. Darker and more porous hair retains some drugs at greater rates than lighter hair, said TTD, adding that “hair specimens can test positive for drugs drivers never ingested.”

“No one in America should be denied employment because the trucking industry wants to rely on an unsound testing method as a way to cut drug-testing costs,” said TTD President Edward Wytkind. “Until hair testing is proven to be a reliable and fair way of testing for drug use and federal standards are in place, subjecting transportation workers to hair-testing should not be up for serious consideration.”

TTD argues that, unlike urine tests, which it said are the most accurate and reliable method for pre-employment drug testing, hair testing lacks federal oversight. Therefore, relying on hair testing as a condition of employment “could unfairly hinder a driver's chance to earn a livelihood and sets a threatening precedent that could affect millions of workers in the transportation sector and across the ...Read the rest of this story

Knight Transportation Reports First Quarter 2017 Revenue and Earnings

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