USA Truck Loses $1.6 Million

Truckload and intermodal operator USA Truck lost $1.6 million in the third quarter due to low volume and excess capacity in the freight market. Base revenue for the period fell 20.6 percent compared with last year to $82.3 million.

The company incurred a net loss of $4.7 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2009 as compared to net income of $2.5 million for the same period of 2008.

“Truckload industry conditions remain challenging,” said Clifton R. Beckham, president and CEO of the company. “Businesses continue to operate at reduced inventory levels, which has made the recession seem much worse than the actual macroeconomic contraction would suggest. The lack of freight demand has created excess tractor capacity industry wide, which, when coupled with shippers’ needs to cut transportation costs, has put severe downward pressure on freight pricing.”

Beckham said he believed conditions have bottomed but are still in a trough. Slight seasonal improvement resulted in improved metrics month to month.

“We believe our operating model is lean and efficient, but it simply does not yet have enough freight volume to be reflected on the bottom line,” Beckham said.

Contact Thomas L. Gallagher at tgallagher@joc.com.