USA Truck Inc. on Thursday, July 20, announced that its second-quarter profit rose less than one percent. Quarterly earnings grew to $4.4 million, up 0.6 percent from $4.3 million in the same period last year. Revenue grew 14 percent to $122 million from $107 million during the same period last year.
USA Truck Chairman and Chief Executive Robert M. Powell said soft freight demand, a driver shortage and hours-of-service rules combined to force truck utilization down by 3.2 percent. Powell estimated that the driver shortage cost the company about 1.5 percentage points of base revenue in the quarter.
Powell said the Van Buren, Ark.-based company was able to offset those factors somewhat by raising prices by 3.6 percent per mile. The company also reported that fuel surcharges rose 61 percent to $22.3 million from $13.9 million a year ago.
