Florida-based Trailer Bridge seemed to come out of the fourth quarter of 2009 in a stronger position than most carriers, with operating income, earnings and net income all up during the period.

The carrier attributes the performance to its high capacity utilization.

For the fourth quarter, operating income was up 148 percent to $3.6 million, in contrast to operating income of $1.4 million in the year-ago quarter. Net income improved by $2.1 million to $1 million, or 8 cents a share, during the quarter. This compares with a net loss of $1.1 million, or 9 cents a share, during the prior-year period. The company says the $1 million net income includes $690,000 in severance payments as part of a reduction in its workforce and $676,000 in legal and related expenses in connection with an ongoing investigation by the Department of Justice.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, was $5.2 million, a 72.1 percent boost from the year ago period's $3 million.

The shipping company posted revenue of $30.7 million, a 7.7 percent drop from the prior year but an increase of 1.3 percent from the third quarter of 2009.

"We saw continued high capacity utilization in the quarter with the exception of the seasonally slower last week of the year," said Ivy Suter, Trailer Bridge's CEO. "We expect capacity utilization to remain high in the first quarter of 2010 and beyond based on what we're seeing in January.

"We are pleased that our system has performed well in a difficult economic climate, and we are seeing a continuing stream of new customers that are taking advantage of our value proposition," Suter added.