Covenant Transport Inc. said revenues for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2006 were up 4 percent to $176.7 million from $169.9 million in the same quarter of 2005.

Freight revenue, which excludes fuel surcharges, was essentially flat at $144.1 million in the 2006 quarter and $144.7 million in the 2005 quarter. The company reported net income of $795,000, or $.06 per share, compared to net income of $1.2 million, or $.09 per share, for the third quarter of 2005.
For the nine months ended Sept. 30, total revenue increased 7.1 percent, to $497.5 million from $464.6 million during 2005. Freight revenue increased 1.5 percent, to $412.9 million in 2006 from $407.0 million in 2005. The company generated a net loss of $488,000, or $.03 per share, compared with a $1.2 million profit for the same period of 2005.
Chairman, President, and CEO David R. Parker said, "Our earnings came in better than expected at the time of our preannouncement on Sept. 14, primarily because of a $.30 per gallon drop in the price of diesel fuel over the last few weeks of the quarter. From a freight standpoint, we have not seen the expected level of peak shipping activity typically seen by the end of August. In fact, shipping demand is still not where it should be as of this point in October. Despite a somewhat less robust freight environment than we would like, our business realignment is showing incremental improvement in several significant areas.
“Average freight revenue per tractor per week– our main measure of asset productivity – improved sequentially over the second quarter of 2006 and 1.8 percent over the third quarter of 2005. Although less than our target of a 5 percent improvement, we are pleased by progress in this area. On a consolidated basis, average miles per tractor improved 1.6 percent and average freight revenue per total mile was essentially flat with the third quarter of 2005, on a longer average length of haul. A nice improvement in the non-revenue miles percentage more than offset a slight decrease in average freight revenue per loaded mile.”