According to the American Trucking Associations, or ATA, the trucking industry was estimated at approximately $610.1 billion in revenue in 2003 and accounted for approximately 86.9% of domestic spending on freight transportation. The trucking industry is highly competitive on the basis of service and price and is necessary in many industries operating in the United States. Customers generally chose truck transportation over other surface transportation modes due to the industry’s higher levels of reliability, shipment integrity and speed.

The trucking industry includes both private fleets and “for-hire” carriers. Private fleets consist of trucks owned and operated by shippers that move their own goods and, according to the ATA, accounted for approximately $278.5 billion of revenue in 2003. For-hire carriers include both truckload and less-than-truckload operations. The highly fragmented for-hire truckload segment of this market, according to the ATA generated revenues of approximately $269.7 billion in 2003. Truckload carriers dedicate an entire trailer to one customer from origin to destination and can be further classified by the trailing equipment they use to haul a customer’s freight, such as dry van, temperature-controlled, tank or flatbed.

The private fleet market offers significant opportunities for expansion by for-hire carriers because shippers increasingly are focused on operating within and conserving capital for, their core competencies, which often do not include freight transportation.

The Company broadly groups its services into the following three categories: truckload services, brokerage services and intermodal support services.

The Company transports a wide variety of general commodities, including machinery, building materials, paper, food, consumer goods, automotive parts, furniture, steel and other metals on behalf of customers in various industries.

The Company brokers freight to third party transportation providers through its agent network at times when the Company generates more freight business than the Company can service with its available owner-operators. These transportation providers may include competing truckload carriers or, occasionally, shipper-owned and operated private motor carrier transport fleets with excess capacity.

The Company’s intermodal support services are primarily short-to-medium distance delivery of rail and steamship containers between the railhead or port and the customer.

Purchased transportation expense for the thirty-nine weeks ended October 2, 2004 increased by $35.1 million, or 23.5%, to $184.4 million from $149.4 million for the thirty-nine weeks ended September 27, 2003.

Insurance and claims expense for the thirty-nine weeks ended October 2, 2004 increased by $1.4 million, or 27.4%, to $6.6 million from $5.2 million for the thirty-nine weeks ended September 27, 2003.

Depreciation and amortization for the thirty-nine weeks ended October 2, 2004 increased by $601,000, or 28.5%, to $2.7 million from $2.1 million for the thirty-nine weeks ended September 27, 2003.

Operating income for the thirty-nine weeks ended October 2, 2004 increased by $2.7 million, or 27.8%, to $12.6 million from $9.8 million for the thirty-nine weeks ended September 27, 2003.