Tank-Truck Carrier Patriot Transportation Suffers Steep Decline in Profits

Tank-truck carrier Patriot Transportation Holding reported a sizeable decline in profits in its fiscal fourth quarter directly tied to hurricanes Harvey and Irma and the lose of a key customer.

The Jacksonville, Fla.-based company earned $201,000 in profits during the period ending Sept. 30, 2017, or a penny per share, down from $2 million or 63 cents one year ago.

Revenues were up $2.5 million year-over-year to $27.9 million overall.

“The lower revenues in the quarter resulted from the impact of the business lost during the second quarter with a particular customer in a competitive bid and the transition of another customer to its privately-owned fleet,” the company wrote in a statement. “We have added significant pieces of new business throughout the fiscal year but not nearly enough to offset the losses.

As to the hurricanes, Patriot Transportation indicated that several terminals were shut down in Florida and Texas during the storm and some were slow to get back up to full productivity in the aftermath.

The carrier doesn’t rank in the Transport Topics Top 100 For-Hire fleets, but subsidiary Florida Rock & Tank Lines ranks No. 12 on the tank/bulk sector list.