Operating Revenues Grow, but Expenses Cut into Profit

OTTAWA – Trucking companies earned 10.1 billion in operating revenue in the first quarter of 2011, reported Statscan today. That’s 5.2 percent higher than the same quarter last year.

The Canadian trucking firms surveyed for the Quarterly Trucking Survey reported operating expenses of $9.2 billion compared with $8.6 billion in the first quarter of 2010.

Fuel expenses climbed 15.2 percent as a result of higher prices as consumption jumped 2.5 percent.

Operating profit dropped 4.7 percent to $936 million, as the increase in operating expenses (+6.3 percent) surpassed operating revenue. Trucking companies that do primarily long distance trucking were responsible for the decline, noted the report, as their operating profits came in at $392 million in the first quarter — a $527 million drop in earned profits during the same quarter in 2010.

The report also notes that revisions were made to the estimates from the 2010 Quarterly Trucking Survey for the first quarter.