TL Leaders Optimistic Despite Engine Worries

NEW YORK — Executives from three of the nation’s largest truckload carriers told a gathering of Wall Street investors here that even though the Oct. 1 engines with mandatory anti-pollution devices were an irritation for their operations, they thought their companies were poised for strong growth in revenue and profits.

They were joined by the chief financial officer of truck leasing giant Ryder System, who told stock fund managers at a J.P. Morgan Securities conference Sept. 5-6 his company was also not eager to add vehicles powered by the new engines with exhaust gas recirculation to its fleet of 118,400 tractors and trailers.

However, the main sales pitch from Swift Transportation, Heartland Express and Landstar System was that truckload consolidation from 2000 and 2001 had put large carriers in an even more dominant position than they held in the 1990s, thereby making them promising candidates for investment.