TRUCKING MARKET * USA - US freight cos post strong results as pricing improves

U.S. freight companies reported higher second-quarter profits on Wednesday and said pricing was improving steadily, indicating strong growth for the rest of the year

New York,NY,USA -Reuters, by A.Ananthalakshmi in Bangalore; Editing by Vinu Pilakkott -Jul 21, 2010: ... They also plan to add capacity in the second half of 2010 as the freight market thaws after a prolonged period of slowdown... Excess capacity had put pressure on pricing and dented margins at truckers as well as freight brokers. A slew of truck-operator bankruptcies has sucked out excess capacity from the industry, easing margins... Truck brokerage Hub Group and truckload carrier Werner Enterprises reported better-than-expected revenue after market close... In April, Hub said it would buy 2,000 intermodal containers from a subsidiary of Singamas Container Holdings as the freight market was picking up... Covenant Transportation Group also reported strong results, sending its shares up 3 percent after the bell... Knight Transportation, which reported strong quarterly results earlier Wednesday, said it plans to add 100 to 150 tractors during the second half if contract rates and operating ratio continued to improve...


* USA - Spot market freight more than doubles year to year

Portland,ORE,USA -Today's Trucking (CAN)-20 July 2010: -- TransCore's North American Freight Index for June 2010 showed a whopping 112 percent increase in spot market freight availability compared to the same time period last year... Spot market freight availability for the second quarter was 60 percent higher than first quarter volume and 331 percent higher than the recession-plagued activity of Q2 2009... Brokers, 3PLs, carriers, and owner-operators in North America are on track to list more than 60 million loads and trucks this year across a variety of services feeding TransCore’s DAT Network... The spot market is the sharpest rising freight sector in North America, with some lanes reporting huge volume increases and rate hikes as much as 30 percent... (Photo from gctl8)