As usual, we end with some selected comments from each carrier's earnings reports, starting with Werner, which as is generally the case provided by far the most extensive commentary.

Werner

Said freight demand in second quarter 2015 and so far in July 2015 continues to be stronger than the prior five years, with the exception of the same period in 2014 which was rebounding from severe winter weather in first quarter 2014 that temporarily backed up the freight network.

Added that "Constrained truck capacity combined with a gradually improving economy in the retail, consumer products and grocery products markets primarily served by us are contributing to strong freight demand. Truckload industry capacity is being challenged by an extremely competitive driver recruiting market and heightened regulatory cost increases for safety and truck ownership; we expect this favorable trend will continue."

Along those same lines, Werner siad "We are making continued progress implementing sustainable rate increases with our customers. These efforts are ongoing as we move forward in 2015 and work to recoup the cost increases associated with more expensive equipment, a shrinking supply of qualified drivers and an increasingly challenging regulatory environment. Strategic customers understand the collective capacity and service challenges facing our company and our industry and are supportive of Werner's ongoing initiatives to provide sustainable transportation solutions in support of their supply chain needs."

Added that as usual the driver recruiting market remained very challenging during second quarter 2015. Several difficult market factors persist, including a declining number of, and increased competition for, driver training school graduates, a gradually declining national unemployment rate, aging truck driver demographics and increased truck safety regulations.

JB Hunt

Said "Customer rate increases across all business units, load growth of 2% in Intermodal, a 6% increase in revenue producing trucks in Dedicated Contract Services and load growth of 12% in Integrated Capacity Solutions could not offset the decrease in fuel surcharge revenue, sluggish consumer freight demand and lower equipment utilization in our Truck business segment resulting in flat consolidated revenue compared to prior year. Current quarter total operating revenue, excluding fuel surcharges, increased 7% vs the comparable quarter 2014."

Hunt saw slow growth in intermodal segment for a change, Overall volumes increased just 2% over the same period in 2014. Its Eastern network realized load growth of 3% and transcontinental loads grew just 1% over the second quarter 2014.

Heartland Express

Said the current freight environment continues to allow the Heartland to work on yield management along with the company's efforts on reducing costs.

Heartland's operating ratio improved despite an average 13% increase in average driver wages, a move that was implemented in late 2014 to address the ongoing industry challenges of recruiting and retaining qualified drivers

The average age of the company's tractor fleet was 1.7 years as of June 30, 2015 compared to 2.2 years at June 30, 2014. During the second quarter of 2015 the company took delivery of approximately 270 new tractors and has approximately 1,000 new tractors scheduled for delivery prior to the end of the year.

Knight Transportation

The trucking segment experienced revenue growth, excluding trucking fuel surcharge, of 24.2% while improving adjusted operating income by 25.8%. However, much of that revenue growth comes as a result of Knight's late 2014 acquisition of Barr-Nunn Transportation

Knight's brokerage business, which is the largest component of its logistics segment, increased revenue 31.3%, with a 38.4% improvement in operating income, when compared to the same quarter last year. Load volume in the brokerage business increased 64.3%

Average tractors were 4,817 in Q2 versus 3,983 in 2014, but again the Barr-Nunn acquisition is the main factor in the rise.

Swift

Company said Truckload pricing increases continued to gain momentum, resulting in a 4.9% increase in revenue net of fuel surcharge per loaded mile

The adjusted operating ratio in Swift's truckload segment increased 120 basis points to 86.0%,
primarily driven by the compounding impact of both sets of targeted wage increases for drivers and pay increases for owner-operators.

Its dedicated segment net of fuel surcharge grew 15.1%, driven by the addition of multiple new customer contracts over the last 12 months

Marten

Operating revenue, net of fuel surcharges, improved 6.1% to $143.9 million for the second quarter of 2015 from $135.7 million for the second quarter of 2014, and improved 8.1% to $284.6 million for the first six months of 2015 from $263.2 million for the first six months of 2014. These improvements were primarily due to the continued growth of Marten's dedicated operations.

Average truckload and dedicated tractor count up 201 tractors, or 9.2%, over last year's second quarter.

Looking forward to the third quarter and beyond, Marten said it secured multi-year dedicated contracts for an additional 279 tractors in this year's second quarter

Celadon

Company said "Freight demand and capacity were closely aligned during the quarter, which allowed us to provide a high level of service to our customers at an increasing rate level."

Average revenue per loaded mile increased to $1.81 per mile in the June 2015 quarter from $1.62 in the June 2014 quarter, an increase of 11.7%.

Average seated line-haul tractors increased to 4496 from 3,191 in Q2 2014.

Any reaction to our Q2 2015 truckload segment review? Let us know your thoughts at the Feedback button (for email) or section (for web form) below.