TORONTO — Despite storing a lot of eggs in the U.S. market basket, Toronto-based LTL giant Vitran Corp. hauled in its best-ever revenue in the second quarter with a return of US$196 million, even as earnings slipped to $4.6 million compared with $5.5 million last year.

The quarter’s $196 million in revenue was up from $170.1 million in the April-June period of last year as cross-border revenue rose 32 percent.

Vitran boss Rick Gaetz said he was pleased with the financial numbers "in light of the continued economic softness and the challenges of operating in the face of record fuel costs."

Some of the gains were achieved "in the face of the successful implementation of our new IT operating system," added Gaetz.

He said the carrier will now be focusing on consolidating U.S. Midwest terminal operations by merging 27 freight facilities into 13.

"With the completion of these initiatives, we will turn our attention to cross-selling Vitran’s LTL business both inter-regionally and across the border between the U.S. and Canada," Gaetz said.

— with files from Canadian Press