Ongoing Truckload Weakness, Helene Hurt P.A.M. Q3 Profit
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Profit at P.A.M. Transport slumped 61% in the third quarter of 2024 on the back of continued truckload market weakness and the impact of Hurricane Helene.
Tontitown, Ark.-based P.A.M. reported net income of $2.4 million or 11 cents per diluted share in the quarter that ended Sept. 30, compared with a profit of $6.1 million, 28 cents, in the year-ago quarter.
The truckload-focused carrier’s operating revenue decreased 9.4% to $182.6 million in Q3 from $201.5 million in the same period 12 months earlier, the company said in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
“The quarter started off slow because of extended, but planned, downtime from some of our biggest customers and ended slower than expected as we saw impacts to our business and volumes prior to Hurricane Helene,” said Joe Vitiritto, company president.
Helene, which came ashore late Sept. 26 as a Category 4 storm on Florida’s Gulf Coast before barreling through the Southeastern U.S., knocked out power to more than 4 million homes and businesses and hammered the cotton, poultry and timber industries. The Southeast and southern Appalachia, particularly parts of rural North Carolina, took a hit from historic flooding.
“Inflationary operating costs continue to materialize, but we are determined to minimize the impact to our business and focus on factors that we can control. We continue to see signs that the market is improving, and I am confident that we are moving closer to a more normal truckload market,” Vitiritto said.
While P.A.M. saw total miles at its truckload operations decrease 1.5% to 46.5 million in Q3 from 47.2 million in the year-ago period, total loads rose to 106,061 from 105,342. The company’s operating ratio slipped to 100.5 in Q3 from 95.8 a year earlier. Through the first nine months of 2024, the operating ratio at P.A.M. averaged 102.8, compared with 96 in the same period a year earlier.
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Operating ratio provides insight on how well a company is balancing its costs and revenue generation. The lower the ratio, the better a company’s performance.
P.A.M.’s revenue per truck per week decreased 1.6% year on year to $3,757 from $3,819, and the number of company-driver trucks averaged 1,820 in Q3, compared with 2,007 in the same quarter a year earlier.
P.A.M. specializes in truckload dry van carrier services in the U.S. and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec.
P.A.M. ranks No. 54 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in North America and No. 20 among truckload carriers.
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