Werner’s First-Quarter Income Plunges

Truckload carrier Werner Enterprises said late Wednesday its first-quarter net income plunged to $8.4 million, or 12 cents a share, from $15.7 million, or 21 cents, a year earlier.

Revenue rose 2% to $512.8 million, Werner said in a statement. The company had warned last month that its earnings would be lower due to a challenging trucking environment.

“Unprecedented high diesel fuel prices, continued softness of freight demand, weaker demand in the used equipment sales market, and worse than normal winter weather conditions created the most challenging quarterly period in many years for Werner and the truckload industry in first quarter 2008,” the company said in a statement.

Werner is ranked No. 14 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.