TRUCKING INDUSTRY NEWS * USA

* Quality Distribution Reduced Losses - Restructuring, reducing debt cuts costs to minimize losses

Tampa,FL,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by Thomas L. Gallagher -May 8, 2009: -- Bulk carrier Quality Distribution reduced its losses in the first quarter as it restructured to meet lower demand and reduced its debt to decrease interest payments... The Tampa, Fla.-based trucker generated just $149.7 million in revenue. Excluding fuel surcharges, revenue was $138.6 million, down 21.2 percent from a year earlier, due to “continued softness in demand,” the company said... The net loss for the first quarter was $300,000, compared to a net loss of $1.9 million for the same quarter in 2008. The first quarter of 2009 contains a pre-tax restructuring charge of $0.6 million and a pre-tax gain of $0.7 million on early debt extinguishment... (Photo: Bulk carrier Quality Distribution reduced its losses in the first quarter as it restructured to meet lower demand and reduced its debt to decrease interest payments)


* Pacer Takes $177 Million First-Quarter Loss

Concord,CA,USA -Transport Topics -7 May 2009: -- Transportation and third-party logistics firm Pacer International reported a first-quarter loss of $177.4 million, or $5.11 per share, compared with a profit of $13.4 million, or 38 cents, a year earlier... Revenue fell to $358.6 million, from $502.8 million for the quarter, Pacer said late Wednesday... Pacer’s intermodal unit lost $183.6 million compared with operating income of $30.4 million last year, while its logistics operations lost $34.7 million, compared with a loss of $800,000 a year ago... (Photo thanks Pacer)


* Battle over HOS exemptions is joined/span>


Washington,DC,USA -Fleet Owner, by Sean Kilcarr -May 8, 2009: -- The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance and Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety fired the opening salvo this week in a joint campaign to repeal statutory hours-of-service (HOS) exemptions for agriculture and utility truck drivers. The groups seek to have those HOS exemptions replaced with regulatory-based ones to more closely monitor safety performance of such fleets and make the fleets re-apply for them on a periodic basis... "Agriculture doesn't run on a set schedule – weather patterns remain unpredictable," added Russell Laird, Agricultural and Food Transporters Conference (AFTC) executive director. "There's a lot of 'hurry up and wait' in this trucking sector. So we need the flexibility of an HOS exemption to compensate for that."...