Profit for the trucking company Swift Transportation fell in the second quarter of the year despite an increase in revenue.

Net income for the Arizona-based business totaled $40.2 million, or 28 cents per diluted share, for the period, compared to $49.9 million, or 36 cents per diluted share, the same time a year ago, a 19.4% decline.

Revenue increased to $1.076 billion from $1.029 billion during the same time, a 4.6% gain.

Truckload utilization as measured by loaded miles per tractor per week improved 1.8% year over year, according to the company, while truckload pricing increases continue to gain momentum, resulting in a 3.7% increase in total revenue, excluding fuel surcharge, per loaded mile compared to the second quarter of 2013. Operating income for this segment totaled $69.6 million for the quarter, up from $64.6 million a year earlier.

Despite this, total truckload revenue fell to $575.5 million from $588.7 million during the second quarter of last year. Swift said this was due to shifting of resources to support the growth of its dedicated segment as well as the increased challenges in the over the road driver market.

Total dedicated segment revenue increased from $223.1 in the most recent quarter from $182.7 a year earlier, while operating income was $21.1 million, down from $24.3 million a year earlier.

“We have seen a dramatic increase in demand for our dedicated service offering over the past six to nine months, which has led to strong growth, but the associated start up costs have placed short-term pressure on margins,” the company said.

The company’s Central Refrigerated Services units saw a drop in total revenue to $106.9 million during the second quarter from $111.2 a year earlier, while its intermodal business total revenue was $100.9 million, up from $91 million during the same time period.

Operating income for Central Refrigerated Services fell to $3.7 million from $5.7 million while intermodal reported a $495,000 loss compared to the $788,000 gain during the comparable time periods.

More information is on the Swift Transportation website.

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