Although weather events tend to impact Saia’s first quarter, this winter’s disruptions “proved more challenging in both magnitude and geographic location,” CEO Frederick Holzgrefe said during an April 25 earnings call. Winter weather in the Southern part of the country prompted closures and limited operations in some of the company’s most dense and profitable regions, he said.
The LTL carrier saw impacts in the Atlanta, Dallas and Houston markets in the first quarter, Holzgrefe said. Closures and limited terminal operations were more significant in Q1 this year compared to the same quarter last year.
Saia estimated the weather impact affected its operating ratio by 25 to 75 basis points. Overall, the company’s first-quarter operating ratio was 91.1%, which deteriorated by 670 basis points versus 84.4% in last year’s Q1. Saia said revenue was also lower than expected due to macroeconomic conditions and adverse weather events. Still, Q1 revenue was up 4.3% to $787.6 million, which the carrier attributed to increased volumes in recently opened terminals.
To keep up with demand and minimize impacts from the weather events, Saia ran extra linehaul miles and used purchased transportation post-storms.
“We also ran extra dock operations over some weekends to ensure customers' freight was minimally impacted by weather disruption,” CFO Matthew Batteh said on the call.
Saia wasn’t alone in seeing an effect from inclement weather. Estes Express Lines, TForce Freight and XPO also reported impacts to their operations in several states due to a blizzard in the Midwest around March and a snowstorm from Kansas to Delaware earlier this year.
