Frozen Food Express Cites 1Q Loss

Refrigerated carrier Frozen Food Express Industries lost $6.1 million, or 36 cents a share, in the first quarter, compared with a loss of $825,000, or 5 cents, a year ago.

Revenue fell 21% to $92.2 million, while revenue excluding fuel surcharges fell 11.4% to $83.1 million, the company said late Tuesday.

The larger loss was primarily driven by lower revenue volume and rates along with non-recurring severance incurred in quarter, FFE said in a statement.

“We believe that capacity will exit the marketplace through attrition of smaller carriers and independent owner-operators,” said chief executive officer, Stoney “Mit” Stubbs.

“Our total fleet has decreased 3.1% to 1,966 tractors in service compared to 2,029 tractors at the end of the 2008 quarter. Our independent owner-operator fleet decreased by 23.7% in an effort to utilize our existing company fleet,” he said in a statement.

Frozen Food Express is ranked No. 57 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.