Werner’s Third-Quarter Income Falls

Truckload carrier Werner Enterprises said its third-quarter profit fell to $19 million, or 26 cents per share, from $22.5 million, or 31 cents, a year ago.

Revenue fell 27% to $429.3 million, while trucking revenue excluding fuel surcharges declined 13.1% to $319.3 million, the company said late Monday.

“The freight market continued to be challenging in third quarter 2009, however freight volumes showed some encouraging seasonal improvement as the quarter progressed,” Werner said in a statement.

Werner said it “proactively adapted to the softer freight market conditions by reducing its average fleet size by 10% when comparing third quarter 2009 to third quarter 2008.”

Fewer trucks and 1% lower miles per truck reduced total miles by 11% over the year.

Werner is ranked No. 14 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.