Less-than-truckload carrier Yellow Corp. saw tonnage plummet again during the first two months of the second quarter. In a news release issued after the market closed Friday, the carrier provided the dour update.
Yellow’s (NASDAQ: YELL) tonnage declined 16% year over year (y/y) in both April and May. Compared to two years ago, tonnage was off 33% in both months.
Assuming the current y/y growth rates hold through the second quarter, Yellow’s tonnage would be flat with the first quarter, the seasonally weakest period of the year. Yellow normally sees a 6% sequential increase in tonnage from the first to the second quarter each year.
Updates from other carriers imply sequential growth in the second quarter. If current trends hold at each carrier, ArcBest (NASDAQ: ARCB) would see a 7% increase, Saia (NASDAQ: SAIA) a 9% jump and XPO (NYSE: XPO) a 3% step up.
Yellow’s declines have been largely tied to the volatility around its restructuring, dubbed One Yellow, in which it is consolidating all of its LTL brands and closing duplicate terminals. However, the latest phase of operational changes has been rejected by its union workforce.
The two parties had agreed to negotiate all matters simultaneously, including their collective-bargaining agreement that doesn’t expire until March 2024. But Yellow’s recent demands have both groups mired in a heated back-and-forth with no resolution in sight — so much so, that it appears the carrier’s share loss isn’t just tied to the overhaul but now likely includes some customers walking away to avoid hiccups that could arise if labor actions ensue.
Yellow’s revenue per hundredweight, or yield, was down 1.5% y/y in April, followed by a 3.8% decline in May. Yellow did have tough comps on that metric, up roughly 30% in the prior-year periods.
The company didn’t provide any commentary in its update.
Shares of YELL were off 3.1% in after-hours trading Friday after increasing 2.6% in the day’s regular trading session.
Mark Swenson
Yellow has ripped off and stolen money from its own employees time and time again they owe 584 million to international brotherhood of Teamsters pension fund and we gave them relief. Now they borrowed 756 million from the federal government during Covid and they only paid back 59 million of it and now they want more relief they don’t deserve to exist they need to go away, they don’t deserve to be a Company anymore. We will find those employees jobs but those people at the top in yellow are thief liars and cheats. My name is Mark Swenson and I’m with Teamsters Local 70 Western Conference counsel seven ABF FREIGHT Oakland 153.
Jack
Good luck finding the healthcare package you’re currently receiving, and no one wants an ex union worker with all the negative rhetoric they bring. Just read the comments here. You are all simply a pain to be around and most often, unemployable. Yellow management, how many more ways can you screw the pooch? You had one job. Ok several. But building another headquarters in Nashville shouldn’t have been one. That’s two HQs you only need one.
David W
Jeff McCloud, you forgot the 3 year pay freeze in your list of employee sacrifices. The biggest asset that yellow has is the employees. Time and again, the workforce must sacrifice in order to save the company.