Average second-quarter operating ratio at 95%, according to StatsCan

OTTAWA — The average operating ratio of the 74 largest for-hire carriers based in Canada was 0.95 during the second quarter of 1998, the same as in 2Q 1997, according to a Statistics Canada survey of carriers earning $25 million or more a year.

The carriers generated $1.35 billion in operating revenues against $1.28 billion in operating expenses during the period, the agency said. Those figures are up from revenues of $1.25 billion and expenses of $1.19 billion in the same period last year.

In fact, general-freight carriers improved to 0.94 from 0.95, this year compared to last, while specialized freight haulers also gained ground, but only to 0.96 compared with 0.97 last year.

The data, taken from the Quarterly Motor Carriers of Freight Survey, represent results from 57 general-freight and 17 specialized-freight carriers.

Overall, slightly less money was spent on wages and salaries in 1998 versus 1997 ($347.5 million, down from $349.8 million), and considerably less on fuel for company-driver trucks ($81.9 million, down from $92.7 million). Despite the latter decline, StatsCan says company drivers covered more distance — 465.9 million kilometres versus 424.8 million.

Money spent on owner-operator services soared, from $299.7 million to $362.0 million (including fuel) — a gain of almost 21%. And, oddly, StatsCan says owner-operators actually travelled fewer miles in the second quarter (367.8 million kilometres, down from 370.8 million kilometres in 2Q 1997).

Does this mean more owner-ops were taking more shorter trips? Or that they were being paid more per trip? Both could be correct.

Part of the answer to this apparent anomaly is found in another figure — money spent on ‘purchased transportation’ rose sharply from $78.8 million to $120.2 million from 2Q 1997 to 2Q 1998. That covers intermodal shipments (with owner-operators used for drayage on either end of the trip, perhaps) and interline agreements with smaller carriers not otherwise represented in these figures. The latter seems more likely.