A.M. Executive Briefing - July 20
b>This Morning's Headlines:
- CNF Transport’s Trucks Drive Record Second Quarter
/A>
- Arkansas Best Corp. Reports Record Second Quarter Earnings
- Rush Enterprises Inc. Reports Second Quarter Results
- Backlog of Cargo Easing at West Coast Terminals
- S.C. County Mulls Steeper Rig Parking Fines
CNF Transport’s Trucks Drive Record Second Quarter
Citing strong earnings for its Con-Way trucking unit, CNF Transportation announced a quarterly earnings record of $46.7 million in the second quarter, a 19% increase from the year-earlier quarter. The corporation’s per-share earnings were $0.76, not includ-ing $0.10 a share from selling its truck parts operations. Con-Way had a 13% year-over-year increase in quarterly income to $60.8 million, which CNF Chief Executive Greg-ory Quesnel says is the first quarterly income above $60 million for any less-than-truckload line. Quesnel adds that the truck line is upgrading its operations and adding e-commerce technology. Reuters (07/20/99)Arkansas Best Corp. Reports Record Second Quarter Earnings
Arkansas Best posted a record quarterly net of $11.1 million in the second quarter, up from $7.7 million in the year-earlier quarter. Its Arkansas Best Freight division recorded a 40% increase in second-quarter operating income to $23.3 million, with its operating ratio down 1.8% to 92.5%. That was the firm’s lowest second-quarter operating ratio in 13 years.Year over year, ABF’s daily less-than-truckload tonnage for the three-month period was unchanged.Another Arkansas Best unit, G.I. Trucking Co., had a 9.7% second-quarter revenue increase to $34.9 million with its operating ratio at 95.9%, down 2% from a year ago.
Meanwhile, Arkansas Best President Robert A. Young III blamed mild weather for Treadco’s second-quarter revenue drop to $46.7 million, with an operating ratio rising 2.1% to 98.9%. Young adds that 1% of the operating ratio rise was due to costs arising from Treadco Acquisition’s merger into Treadco, after which Treadco stock was pulled from Nasdaq.
Clipper Domestic also saw a drop in second-quarter revenue, down from $31.9 million to $26.8 million, which Young blamed on rail problems and cutbacks in lanes. However, the company’s second-quarter operating ratio improved by 4 percentage points to 98.1%.
Finally, Clipper International is a discontinued operation following the April sale of some of its assets. PRNewswire (07/20/99)
Rush Enterprises Inc. Reports Second Quarter Results
Rush Enterprises, operator of many Peterbilt and John Deere dealerships, saw a 14.1% increase in second-quarter revenue, to $189.4 million.The heavy-duty truck unit saw second-quarter revenues rise from $146.9 million to $162.4 million, reflecting increasing sales of new and used trucks as well as parts and labor. Business Wire (07/19/99)
Backlog of Cargo Easing at West Coast Terminals
Now that International Longshoremen and Warehouse Union have ended their work slowdowns, ports all along the West Coast have been able to clear out some of the cargo that had barely been moving since the union’s contract expired on July 1.This is just in time for the ports to handle an expected surge in Asian import traffic from August to October. Before a temporary union contract was signed July 15, many ports were operating at 60% of usual productivity, with some as low as 14%.
In June, before the slowdowns, Long Beach and Los Angeles ports [the two busiest in the United States] handled a 6% to 8% increase in inbound containers. The increase in Seattle was 20%. Triad Business Journal Online (07/12/99); Thompson, Deanna
S.C. County Mulls Steeper Rig Parking Fines
Officials in Berkeley County, S.C., are considering raising fines from $200 to $500 for truckers parking big-rig tractors in certain residential neighborhoods.Truckers say they need to protect their expensive trucks, while some homeowners fear the lowering of property values because of the presence of the vehicles. USA Today (07/20/99) P. 10A
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