William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor | Jul 20, 2012 11:57AM EDT
Canadian and U.S. trucking operator Vitran Express drove deeper into losses in the second quarter as it struggled to rebuild its U.S. less-than-truckload business.
Vitran reported a $4.2 million net loss, compared with a $2.3 million net loss in the same quarter a year ago, while revenue rose 2 percent to $213.1 million.
The Toronto-based transport operator reported a $5.8 million loss on $207.7 million in total revenue in the first quarter.
“Our U.S. LTL operation continues to be our main challenge, priority and opportunity,” said Rick Gaetz, president and CEO of the company.
U.S. LTL operating results improved approximately 10 percent from the first quarter, but “the improvement was much less than we anticipated,” Gaetz said.
He blamed the delay in “real recovery” on personnel turnover as Vitran aggressively upgraded talent on the team of its new U.S. president, Chris Kenyon.
Vitran’s LTL segment increased revenue 3 percent from a year ago to $183.8 million but reported a $3.3 million loss, compared with a $1.2 million loss a year ago.
LTL shipments and tonnage were up 3.7 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively.
Supply chain revenue dropped from $30.5 million a year ago to $29.3 million, and supply chain operating profit increased to by $100,000 to $2.4 million.
Vitran hired Kenyon, a former FedEx Freight executive, in January to turn around a division that stumbled after Vitran grew rapidly through acquisition.
The company acquired the regional LTL operations of Milan Express, a Tennessee-based carrier, in early 2011, expanding Vitran’s coverage into the Deep South.
To kickstart its U.S. operations, the carrier reorganized its linehaul and hub LTL network this month and introduced in-cab driver tablets and a new dispatching system.
Gaetz also said Vitran introduced new linehaul planning technology and shipment reweighing technology to improve operations and capture accurate costing data.
“This will help accelerate our recovery in the back half of 2012 and more importantly into 2013," Gaetz said.
Contact William B. Cassidy at wcassidy@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter @wbcassidy_joc.