Motor carriers ride 10% increase in revenues to boost operating ratio

Canada’s for-hire motor carriers are proving more resilient to the economic slowdown than might have been expected.

Canada’s 2,900 for-hire motor carriers with annual revenues of $1 million or more improved their operating ratio (operating expenses divided by operating revenues) to 0.92 in the second quarter of 2001, Statistics Canada records show. That marks a one point from the same time last year. Arguably, any operating ratio lower than 0.95 is considered healthy for this industry.
Second quarter revenues totaled $5.4 billion, an increase of 10.2% from the second quarter of 2000. Their operating expenses reached $4.9 billion, up 9.6%.

Both average operating revenues (-0.8%) and expenses (-2.7%) fell slightly in the second quarter compared with the second quarter of 2000. Average expenses were $1.68 million, compared with $1.71 million in the second quarter of 2000; the drop was mainly driven by lower salaries and wages combined with payments to owner-operators.