OTTAWA (June 4, 2003) — Statistics Canada released a report this past weekend that shows average expenses for carriers in the fourth quarter of 2002 were $1.69 million, compared with $1.67 million in the same period of 2001.

The increase in expenses was driven by higher wages and salaries, combined with depreciation, fuel and maintenance expenditures. However, average costs per carrier were lower for payments to owners and operators (-8.8 per cent) and purchased transportation services (-10.1 per cent). The operating ratio (operating expenses divided by operating revenues) rose slightly to 0.94.

Meanwhile, the report stated there were an estimated 2,855 for-hire trucking companies based in Canada with annual revenues of $1 million or more in the fourth quarter of 2002, down from 2,862 carriers in the fourth quarter of 2001. Operating revenues totalled $5.15 billion, an increase of 0.1% from the fourth quarter of 2001, and operating expenses reached $4.83 billion, up 1.0 per cent.

For-hire trucking transportation revenues from international movements increased 21.1% to more than $1.92 billion from $1.59 billion in the fourth quarter of 2001. Revenues from outbound movements were up 19.0%, and revenues from inbound movements increased by more than 23%.