The Transportation Intermediaries Association has released a second-quarter report that shows improved profit margins year-over-year and a slight decline from the quarter.
The year-over-year margin percentage, based on the amount of revenue left after paying for transport, was 16% in the second quarter, for all types of freight compared with 14.5% in last year’s second quarter and 16.1% in 2016’s first quarter. Year-over-year shipments rose 0.7% and 7% sequentially.
The report reinforced the trend of improved operational profitability shown in second-quarter earnings reports from publicly traded brokerage specialists such as C.H. Robinson Worldwide and Echo Global Logistics.
In the truckload sector that accounts for more than two-third of brokers’ business, shipments were 1.1% higher year-over-year and up 6.2% from the first quarter. Truckload margin percentage in the sector rose 1.7 percentage points to 16.6% from the 2015 period but fell from the 16.9% in the first quarter.
“Truckload participants’ margin percent varied between the groups, with those in the less than $16 million [revenue] group seeing a margin percent increase, while participants in the $16 [million] to $100 million and over $100 million groups saw a margin percent decrease,” the trade association said, referring to sequential performance.
In total, shipments including intermodal and less-than-truckload rose 7%, and revenue rose 6.8% to $2.12 billion.
TIA said in a statement that the report “allows 3PLs to see how the overall industry is performing as well as to compare their business to companies of a similar size.”
