TFI International had shipments significantly improve in March and April, CFO David Saperstein said Monday, adding that the company projects a noticeably different market in volumes in Q2.
“In January, LTL shipments were down year over year, 10%,” Saperstein said on an earnings call. “In March, they were up 8% year over year, and April is looking similar to March.”
Winter weather disrupted operations in early Q1, but overall, weaker market demand drove reduced volumes, the company said in an earnings release.
Companywide, a decline in revenues and $6.7 million of incremental accident-related expenses contributed to a net decline in operating income, even as truckload and logistics segments rose year over year, TFI reported.
The company’s LTL segment, which features TForce Freight, had an adjusted operating ratio of 95.3% in Q2 as LTL operating income fell 35% to $30.6 million.
But the company projects a 6- to 7-percentage-point improvement in its LTL operating ratio from Q1 to Q2, Saperstein said.
“In a normal environment, you have to run an LTL division between an 80 to an 85 OR,” President and CEO Alain Bédard said on the call. “The edge that we have is our Canadian operation.”
The company is aiming to improve its U.S. operations and how it compares to its peers on second-day and third-day service deliveries, he also said.
