Knight Transportation Inc. said fourth-quarter total revenues increased 6.6 percent, to $186.5 million from $174.9 million for the same quarter of 2006.
Revenue, before fuel surcharge, decreased 0.2 percent, to $151.9 million from
$152.1 million for the same quarter of 2006. Net income decreased to $13.8 million from $20.2 million for the same period of 2006.
For the year, total revenue increased 7.4 percent, to $713.6 million from $664.4 million for the same period of 2006. Revenue, before fuel surcharge, increased 5.8 percent, to $601.4 million from $568.4 million for the same period of 2006. Net income decreased to $63.1 million from $73.0 million for the same period of 2006.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kevin P. Knight, said, "The fourth quarter presented a continuation of what has been the most difficult operating environment in several years for the execution of our business model based on leading growth and profitability. For the second consecutive year, a strong 'peak' shipping season did not materialize in the fourth quarter. The industrywide supply of truckload equipment continued to outpace the freight demand, which pressured pricing and resulted in lower equipment utilization.
"For the quarter, average freight revenue per tractor declined 6.5 percent on 4.4 percent more average tractors, as compared to the fourth quarter of 2006. The decline resulted from a nearly equal combination of lower revenue per total mile and lower average miles per tractor. In the quarter, our operations team decreased our empty mileage factor to 12.4 percent from 13.6 percent, an improvement of nearly 9 percent, despite a slightly shorter average length of haul.
"In this environment we took a hard look at our fleet size and reduced our tractor count by approximately 100 units during the quarter. Having grown our fleet 10.1 percent compounded annually over the past three years, we had expanded our fleet size past the presently available amount of freight. In the short term, we will closely scrutinize our fleet size and make adjustments as needed to provide customers the service they expect while generating adequate returns. Over the long term, we are optimistic about our competitive position in the industry and expect that proper execution of our decentralized growth model will position us to emerge from the downturn with the ability to add more capacity and gain more market share."