Covenant Transport Reports First-Quarter Loss

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ovenant Transport said late Wednesday it lost $884,000 or 6 cents a share in the first-quarter, compared with a $649,000 or 4-cent loss a year earlier.

img src="/sites/default/files/images/articles/covenanttransportlogo.gif" width=70 align=right>The truckload carrier said its revenue rose 9.9% to $151.5 million.

“The first quarter was pretty typical of first quarters in trucking — a spotty freight market, a couple of big storms, but nothing unusual,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer David Parker.

“Although the freight market in general was not as strong as last year's, I am pleased to report that Covenant did not experience a large drop-off, as we did in the first quarter of 2005. There was first quarter seasonality but nothing more,” he said in a statement.

Covenant said it planned to replace about 2,060 tractors this year in advance of new federal diesel-emission rules slated to take effect next year.

Covenant is ranked No. 36 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.