Dry van truckload carrier USA Truck announced a third quarter loss of $1.6 million, compared to net income of $2.4 million for the year-ago period
. The company attributes the loss to the continued challenging trucking environment, lack of freight demand and increased downward pressure on pricing.

"Truckload industry conditions remain challenging," said Clifton Beckham, president and CEO. "Businesses continue to operate at reduced inventory levels, which has made the recession seem much worse than the actual macroeconomic contraction would suggest. The lack of freight demand has created excess tractor capacity industry wide, which, when coupled with shippers' needs to cut transportation costs, has put severe downward pressure on freight pricing."

The Arkansas-based company saw its revenue slip 20.6 percent to $82.3 million during the three-month period. Meanwhile, for the same quarter of 2008, revenue was $103.7 million. Its loss per share was 16 cents, versus earnings per share of 23 cents in the 2008 quarter.

However, the company experienced continued improvement in its base trucking revenue per loaded mile, which was up 1.9 percent year-over-year to $1.493. The increase was due to improved management of its freight network and the reduction in length of haul, according to USA Truck. The company's length of haul decreased 21.3 percent to 577 miles.

"As we previously stated, we believe industry conditions have bottomed," Beckham said. "However, we anticipate the next two quarters will be similar to recent ones, and there will likely be sequential downward pressure on industry pricing as lower priced second and third quarter bids take effect. We believe the imbalance between industry tractor capacity and freight demand will not improve materially until businesses begin restocking their inventories, which we do not expect in the near term."