P.A.M. Transportation Services on Tuesday, April 28, reported a net loss of $3,345,928 for the quarter ended March 31, 2009, compared to net loss of $2,828,326 for the quarter ended March 31, 2008. Operating revenues were $65,818,035 compared to $105,820,696.
“While revenue for the first quarter of 2009 compared to the same quarter in 2008 was down considerably, a full one-third of the decrease was in fuel surcharge revenue attributable to lower fuel prices in the first quarter 2009 compared to the first quarter of 2008,” said Robert W. Weaver, president of the Tontitown, Ark.-based company. “Additionally, our truck count was reduced by 276 trucks year-to-year as we strive to reduce our fleet size to more closely match demand for services. With that being said, freight demand in January and February were the lightest we have encountered, with these two months resulting in the majority of the operating loss for the quarter.”
Weaver said the company continues to focus on expense items to identify opportunities to reduce or eliminate cost. “Predominant among these cost-control efforts for the first quarter 2009 was the reduction of our total employee count from 2,744 in January 2009 to 2,478 by the end of March 2009 as we adjusted employee count across all departments to the number required to support our current fleet size,” he said.
“We have yet to see any improvement in general economic conditions, and continue to focus on the identification of new business opportunities in an extremely competitive freight environment while initiating and improving cost-control efforts to help decrease the impact of the weak freight environment on our bottom line,” Weaver said.
