Fleet Truck Sales, the wholly owned used-truck remarketing subsidiary of Werner Enterprises, saw sales of its trucks and trailers drop to $6.2 million for the first quarter of 2007, compared to $8.8 million for the same period in 2006.
The revenue decline is partially due to a softer freight market and higher fuel prices, the truckload carrier said in its first quarter earnings report, but was also a result of its recent truck-buying spree in 2005 and 2006. Currently with an average tractor age of just 1.49 yrs., Werner has positioned itself to avoid buying trucks with the new 2007-spec engines until the second half of the year, and so has few used trucks to sell than it did a year ago.
Despite the decrease in units sold, Werner says it “continued to realize solid gains per truck sold” during the first three months of 2007.
Looking ahead, the carrier says it plans to sell fewer trucks overall in 2007, pointing out that 2006 represented a record year for its used-truck sales subsidiary.
On the trailer side, Werner says it plans to sell off fully depreciated vans throughout 2007 and replace them with new trailers.
