Best of the Best
This Editorial appears in the July 26 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.
The 2010 edition of the Transport Topics Top 100 For-Hire Carriers shows us just how bad 2009 was for the motor carrier industry, but it also illustrates the recovery that took hold in the first half of this year.
Most fleet executives we talked with to compile our industry-leading review, which ran in last week’s Transport Topics, said their fleets were recovering nicely during 2010. (TT’s private-fleet rankings will be in the Aug. 23 issue and our review of logistics companies will run Nov. 15.)
The best-managed fleets used the severe economic downturn to prune their operations and get their plans in place for the inevitable recovery.
The success of those efforts grows increasingly evident. Last week, for example, UPS reported a 71% jump in its second-quarter profit, compared with a year ago, and Knight Transportation reported a 26% gain (click here and here for related stories).
Among other positive recent results, two carriers that lost money in the second quarter of last year reported a return to the black this time around, namely USA Truck and Covenant Transportation Group.
CRST officials interviewed for the Top 100 said that first-quarter revenue was up 17%, and the fleet was “hitting equipment utilization numbers that haven’t been seen in years.”
All of this is music to trucking ears and takes some of the sting out of the memories of 2009.
We’ve been printing reports of fleets adding big numbers of tractors to their inventory, including Schneider National Inc. and CRST, and driver wages now are rising steadily as fleets compete for experienced hands to move the new levels of freight (click here for related story).
These additions are helping the trucking equipment manufacturers, as sales numbers rise steadily and order levels jump sharply. This issue of TT includes a report that new Class 8 truck orders during June were 93% higher than year-ago levels.
Heavy-duty truck sales for 2010 are up 13.3% through June, a much slower pace. But ACT Research Co., which reported the June orders jump, said it now expects Class 8 sales to increase by 26% over year-ago levels during 2010.
While analysts are still arguing over the strength of the economic recovery, sending Wall Street indexes on a roller-coaster ride, most fleets say their business levels are up, and they are expecting them to continue to rise.
Next year’s Transport Topics Top 100 For-Hire Carriers should have lots of better news for us to share.
