Some trucking carriers reported that they are managing to grow their business despite the ongoing economic downturn.

“Although the challenging freight environment continued in the second quarter, we did experience an increase in seasonal demand as the quarter progressed,” said Kevin Knight, chairman & CEO of Knight Transportation. “Our multiple-truckload service offerings continue to enable us to grow our market share and increase our loads hauled which were up 5.5%, year-over-year.”

As a result, Knight remained profitable in the second quarter, with net income at $12.6 million, down just 1% from the same period last year, while revenues decline to $144.3 million without the inclusion of fuel surcharges, down 6.8% from the second quarter of 2008.”

“We have not yet seen evidence that would suggest strong improvements in demand are on the horizon,” Knight said. “However, we have seen evidence that many truckload carriers are barely viable and are plagued with weak balance sheets, aging fleets and dramatically shrinking revenues. We expect the challenging truckload market to yield opportunities to continue to capture market share over time.”