奧多明尼昂貨運 (ODFL) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to the Old Dominion Freight Line Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this event is being recorded.

早安，歡迎參加 Old Dominion Freight Line 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，正在記錄此事件。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Drew Andersen, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

我現在想將會議交給投資者關係部門的德魯·安德森 (Drew Andersen)。請繼續。

Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to the Third Quarter 2023 Conference Call for Old Dominion Freight Line. Today's call is being recorded and will be available for replay beginning today and through November 1, 2023 by dialing 1 (877) 344-7529, access code 8344351. The replay of the webcast may also be accessed for 30 days at the company's website.

謝謝。早安，歡迎參加 Old Dominion Freight Line 2023 年第三季電話會議。今天的通話正在錄音中，從今天開始直至 2023 年 11 月 1 日，您可以透過撥打 1 (877) 344-7529（存取代碼 8344351）重播。網路廣播的重播也可以在公司網站上觀看 30 天。

This conference call may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements, among others, regarding Old Dominion's expected financial and operating performance. For this purpose, any statements made during this call that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Without limiting the foregoing, the words believes, anticipates, plans, expects and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements.

本次電話會議可能包含 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》含義內的前瞻性陳述，包括有關 Old Dominion 預期財務和經營業績的陳述等。為此目的，本次電話會議期間所做的任何非歷史事實陳述的陳述都可能被視為前瞻性陳述。在不限制前述規定的情況下，「相信」、「預期」、「計劃」、「期望」和類似表達等詞語旨在識別前瞻性陳述。

You are hereby cautioned that these statements may be affected by the important factors among others, set forth in Old Dominion's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and in this morning's news release and consequently, actual operations and results may differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

特此提醒您，這些陳述可能會受到 Old Dominion 向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件以及今天上午的新聞稿中所述的重要因素的影響，因此，實際運營和結果可能與中討論的結果存在重大差異。前瞻性陳述。本公司不承擔公開更新任何前瞻性陳述的義務，無論是由於新資訊、未來事件或其他原因。

As a final note, before we begin, we welcome your questions today, but we do ask in fairness to all that you please limit yourself to just one question at a time before returning to the queue. Thank you for your cooperation.

最後一點，在我們開始之前，我們歡迎您今天提出問題，但我們確實公平地要求您在返回隊列之前一次只能回答一個問題。謝謝您的合作。

At this time, for opening remarks, I would like to turn the conference over to the company's President and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Marty Freeman. Please go ahead, sir.

現在，我想請公司總裁兼執行長馬蒂·弗里曼先生致開幕詞。請繼續，先生。

Good morning, and welcome to our third quarter conference call. With me today on the call is Adam Satterfield, our CFO. After some brief remarks, we will be glad to take your questions.

早上好，歡迎參加我們的第三季電話會議。今天與我一起參加電話會議的是我們的財務長 Adam Satterfield。簡短發言後，我們將很樂意回答您的問題。

Old Dominion's third quarter financial results reflect continued softness in the domestic economy. As a result, our shipment levels decreased on a year-over-year basis for the fifth straight quarter. Some encouraging trends developed during the quarter as our LTL shipments per day averaged 49,670 after averaging 47,077 per day for the first 6 months of the year. While a portion of this growth can be attributed to the loss of one large competitor, we believe we are winning new business from other carriers in the industry due to the quality of our service and overall value provided to our customers.

Old Dominion 第三季財務表現反映出國內經濟持續疲軟。因此，我們的出貨量連續第五個季度年減。本季出現了一些令人鼓舞的趨勢，我們的零擔貨運量平均每天為 49,670 件，而今年前 6 個月的平均每天為 47,077 件。雖然這一成長的一部分可歸因於一個大型競爭對手的流失，但我們相信，由於我們的服務品質和為客戶提供的整體價值，我們正在從業內其他營運商那裡贏得新業務。

The OD team effectively responded to this positive inflection in volumes by continuing to offer superior service at a fair price. We were pleased that our on-time performance was 99% during the quarter, while our cargo claims ratio was 0.1%.

OD 團隊繼續以合理的價格提供優質的服務，有效地應對了銷售的積極變化。我們很高興本季的準點率達到 99%，而貨物索賠率為 0.1%。

As we have said many times before, service means much more than just picking up and delivering to our customers' freight on time and claims free. There are many other attributes that shippers consider when selecting a carrier, such as consistent transit times, carrier trustworthiness and ease of doing business. Mastio & Company conducts a comprehensive LTL study each year, and they recently measured carriers on 28 different service and value-related attributes. Mastio published their 2023 results just this week, and we are extremely proud to be named the #1 national LTL provider for the 14th straight year.

正如我們之前多次說過的，服務不僅僅意味著按時提貨並交付給客戶以及免索賠。托運人在選擇承運人時還考慮許多其他因素，例如一致的運輸時間、承運人的可信度以及開展業務的便利性。 Mastio & Company 每年都會進行全面的 LTL 研究，他們最近對承運商的 28 種不同服務和價值相關屬性進行了評估。 Mastio 本週剛發布了 2023 年業績，我們非常自豪能夠連續 14 年被評為排名第一的全國零擔運輸提供者。

Logistic professionals ranked OD as #1 for 25 of the 28 individual attributes in the most recent survey, which was our best performance ever and demonstrates our unwavering commitment to excellence and customer satisfaction. We believe the consistency and quality of our service over many years, as validated by Mastio has differentiated Old Dominion in the marketplace and supported our ability to win market share over the long term.

在最近的調查中，物流專業人士將 OD 在 28 項個人屬性中的 25 項中排名第一，這是我們有史以來的最佳表現，體現了我們對卓越和客戶滿意度的堅定承諾。我們相信，經 Mastio 驗證，我們多年來服務的一致性和品質使 Old Dominion 在市場上脫穎而出，並支持我們長期贏得市場份額的能力。

Our superior service also continues to support our ongoing yield management initiatives. We focus on obtaining consistent yield increases each year to offset our cost inflation and support our ongoing investments in capacity and technology. Maintaining excess capacity during slower economic environments come to the cost, but we believe having an available capacity for customers when they need it the most is critical element for our value proposition.

我們卓越的服務也持續支持我們正在進行的產量管理計畫。我們專注於每年實現穩定的產量成長，以抵消成本通膨並支持我們對產能和技術的持續投資。在經濟放緩的環境下維持過剩產能是要付出代價的，但我們相信，在客戶最需要的時候為客戶提供可用產能是我們價值主張的關鍵要素。

As a result, we consistently invest in service center capacity, equipment, technology and most importantly, our people. Because of these investments, we are well positioned to respond to the positive inflection in volumes during the quarter. It is important to note that while other carriers may have the ability to invest in service centers, equipment and technology, it is our OD Family of employees that truly distinguishes us from our competition. We have a unique company culture that has defined who we are for a -- many years, delivering superior service at a fair price having a consistent approach to pricing and investing for growth may sound like a simple formula, but it takes a committed team to keep delivering on these fundamental elements for a long-term strategic plan.

因此，我們不斷投資於服務中心的能力、設備、技術，最重要的是我們的員工。由於這些投資，我們能夠很好地應對本季銷售的積極變化。值得注意的是，雖然其他業者可能有能力投資服務中心、設備和技術，但我們的 OD 員工家族真正讓我們在競爭中脫穎而出。我們擁有獨特的公司文化，多年來，這種文化定義了我們的定位，以公平的價格提供優質的服務，採用一致的定價方法，並為增長進行投資，這聽起來像是一個簡單的公式，但需要一支忠誠的團隊才能做到這一點。繼續落實長期戰略計劃的這些基本要素。

The execution by our team and consistency in our long-term financial results gives us the continued confidence in our strategic plan. We remain committed to this plan and believe we are better positioned than any other carrier in our industry to win market share over the long term.

我們團隊的執行力和長期財務表現的一致性使我們對我們的策略計劃充滿信心。我們仍然致力於這項計劃，並相信我們比業內任何其他營運商都更有能力贏得長期市場份額。

As we continue to deliver our unmatched value proposition to our customers over the long term, we are confident that we can create further profitable growth and increase shareholder value.

隨著我們繼續長期向客戶提供無與倫比的價值主張，我們有信心創造進一步的獲利成長並增加股東價值。

Thank you very much for joining us this morning, and now Adam will discuss our third quarter financial results in greater detail.

非常感謝您今天早上加入我們，現在 Adam 將更詳細地討論我們第三季的財務表現。

Thank you, Marty, and good morning. Old Dominion's revenue decreased 5.5% in the third quarter of 2023 due to a 6.9% decrease in LTL tons per day that was partially offset by a 3.1% increase in LTL revenue per hundredweight. We also had one less operating day as compared to the third quarter of 2022. The combination of this decrease in revenue and slight deterioration in our operating ratio contributed to the 8.0% decrease in earnings per diluted share to $3.09 for the quarter.

謝謝你，馬蒂，早安。 Old Dominion 的營收在 2023 年第三季下降了 5.5%，原因是每日零擔噸數減少了 6.9%，但每英擔零擔收入成長 3.1% 部分抵消了這一影響。與 2022 年第三季相比，我們的營業日也減少了一個。收入的減少和營業比率的輕微惡化相結合，導致本季稀釋後每股收益下降 8.0%，至 3.09 美元。

On a sequential basis, revenue per day for the third quarter increased 8.9% when compared to the second quarter of 2023, with LTL tons per day increasing 3.6% and LTL shipments per day increasing 5.7%. For comparison, the 10-year average sequential change for these metrics includes an increase of 2.9% in revenue per day, an increase of 0.7% in tons per day and an increase of 1.8% in shipments per day.

與 2023 年第二季相比，第三季的每日營收季增 8.9%，每日零擔噸數成長 3.6%，每日零擔貨運量成長 5.7%。相比之下，這些指標的 10 年平均連續變化包括每日收入增長 2.9%、每日噸數增長 0.7% 以及每日出貨量增長 1.8%。

As Marty just mentioned, a portion of this increase can be attributed to the loss of one large competitor as underlying demand has remained relatively consistent throughout the quarter. We do believe, however, that we are also winning new business from other carriers in the industry due to the quality of our service and overall value provided to our customers.

正如馬蒂剛剛提到的，這一增長的一部分可歸因於一個大型競爭對手的流失，因為整個季度的基本需求保持相對穩定。然而，我們確實相信，由於我們的服務品質和為客戶提供的整體價值，我們也正在從業內其他營運商那裡贏得新業務。

The monthly sequential changes in LTL tons per day during the third quarter were as follows: July decreased 1.5% as compared with June; August increased 4.7% versus July; and September increased 2.7% as compared to August. The 10-year average change for the respective months is a decrease of 3.1% in July, an increase of 0.1% in August and an increase of 3.6% in September.

第三季每日零擔噸數月季減： 7 月季減 1.5%； 8月較7月成長4.7%； 9月較8月成長2.7%。各月10年平均變動為，7月下降3.1%，8月成長0.1%，9月成長3.6%。

For October, we expect our revenue per day will increase by approximately 1.5% to 2% when compared to October 2022, with a decrease of approximately 2% to 2.5% in our LTL tons per day. While our shipment levels for the month have been stronger than our normal sequential trend, we believe a portion of this outperformance is attributable to a cybersecurity incident disclosed by a competitor. We would expect some of the incremental growth in October, will return to that competitor in November. As usual, we will provide actual revenue related details for October in our third quarter Form 10-Q.

與 2022 年 10 月相比，我們預計 10 月的每日收入將增加約 1.5% 至 2%，每天的零擔噸數將減少約 2% 至 2.5%。雖然我們本月的出貨量水準強於正常的連續趨勢，但我們認為這種優異表現的部分原因是競爭對手揭露的網路安全事件。我們預計 10 月的部分增量成長將在 11 月返回該競爭對手。與往常一樣，我們將在第三季的 10-Q 表格中提供 10 月份的實際收入相關詳細資訊。

Our third quarter operating ratio increased 150 basis points to 70.6% as the increase in overhead cost as a percent of revenue more than offset the improvement in our direct cost. While the decrease in revenue had a deleveraging effect on our cost categories that are more fixed in nature, we were pleased with the increase in operating efficiencies that helped drive the improvement in our direct cost. We also continued with our best efforts to control discretionary spending to minimize the increase in overhead expenses as a percent of revenue.

我們第三季的營運比率增加了 150 個基點，達到 70.6%，因為管理費用佔收入百分比的增加遠遠抵消了直接成本的改善。雖然收入的減少對我們本質上更固定的成本類別產生了去槓桿化影響，但我們對營運效率的提高感到高興，這有助於推動我們直接成本的改善。我們也繼續盡最大努力控制可自由支配支出，以盡量減少管理費用佔收入百分比的增加。

We did, however, continue to execute on our 2023 capital expenditure plan to help ensure that we have the necessary capacity for anticipated growth once the domestic economy improves. This resulted in a 110 basis point increase in our depreciation expenses as a percent of revenue that, along with the increase in employee benefit costs, largely contributed to the overall increase in overhead expenses.

不過，我們確實繼續執行 2023 年資本支出計劃，以幫助確保一旦國內經濟好轉，我們就有實現預期成長所需的能力。這導致我們的折舊費用佔收入的百分比增加了 110 個基點，再加上員工福利成本的增加，很大程度上導致了管理費用的整體增加​​。

Old Dominion's cash flow from operations totaled $429.2 million and $1.1 billion for the third quarter and first 9 months of 2023, respectively. While capital expenditures were $172 million and $651.4 million for the same periods. We utilized $65.9 million and $368.1 million of cash for our share repurchase program during the third quarter and first 9 months of 2023, respectively, while cash dividends totaled $43.7 million and $131.5 million for the same periods. Our effective tax rate for the third quarter of 2023 was 24.0% as compared to 23.9% in the third quarter of 2022. We currently anticipate our effective tax rate to be 25.6% for the fourth quarter.

Old Dominion 2023 年第三季和前 9 個月的營運現金流分別為 4.292 億美元和 11 億美元。同期資本支出分別為 1.72 億美元及 6.514 億美元。 2023 年第三季和前 9 個月，我們分別使用了 6,590 萬美元和 3.681 億美元的現金用於股票回購計劃，而同期現金股利總計為 4,370 萬美元和 1.315 億美元。我們 2023 年第三季的有效稅率為 24.0%，而 2022 年第三季為 23.9%。我們目前預計第四季的有效稅率為 25.6%。

This concludes our prepared remarks this morning. Operator, we'll be happy to open the floor for questions at this time.

我們今天早上準備好的演講到此結束。接線員，我們很樂意在此時開放提問。

We will now begin the question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions) Our first question is from Allison Poliniak with Wells Fargo.

我們現在開始問答環節。 （操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自富國銀行的 Allison Poliniak。

Could you talk a little bit about the density improvement that you saw in the network? And any way to quantify that? And then maybe following that, just touch on how much excess capacity you have in the system today to take on some more volumes?

您能談談您在網路中看到的密度改進嗎？有什麼方法可以量化嗎？然後也許接下來，只需談談您今天的系統中有多少多餘的容量可以容納更多的捲？

Sure. Our current level of excess capacity, which is in our service center network is now between 25% to 30%. We did improve density within our operations during the quarter and that was a big factor in driving the improvement in our direct operating costs, at least the improvement that we saw both sequentially and on a year-over-year basis.

當然。我們目前服務中心網路的產能過剩水準在 25% 到 30% 之間。我們在本季度確實提高了營運密度，這是推動我們直接營運成本改善的一個重要因素，至少是我們連續和同比看到的改善。

But we leverage that inflection in the volumes and we always say long-term improvement in the operating ratio, it was driven by two key factors: density and yield and both generally support -- or require the support of a macro economic environment is positive, but we had good leverage there that drove some nice operating efficiencies within our pickup delivery operations on the dock as well -- had improvement. We still had a slight decrease in our line haul load factor, but that's improved from where we were earlier in the year. So all those factors contributed to the improvement in our direct cost as a percent of revenue during the quarter.

但我們利用數量的變化，我們總是說營運比率的長期改善，它是由兩個關鍵因素驅動的：密度和產量，並且兩者通常都支持 - 或者需要宏觀經濟環境的支持是積極的，但我們在那裡擁有良好的槓桿作用，這也推動了我們在碼​​頭的取貨送貨業務中的一些良好的運營效率- 有所改善。我們的線路運輸負載率仍然略有下降，但這比今年早些時候有所改善。因此，所有這些因素都有助於改善本季我們的直接成本佔收入的百分比。

The next question is from Jack Atkins with Stephens.

下一個問題是傑克·阿特金斯和史蒂芬斯提出的。

Okay. So I guess, Adam, as you think about the sequential progression into the fourth quarter, I know there are a lot of puts and takes with October and the disruption -- the further disruption of the market in October. But could you maybe talk about your expectation for -- or maybe how we should be thinking about operating ratio trends sequentially from the third quarter to the fourth quarter, all things considered?

好的。所以我想，亞當，當你考慮到第四季度的連續進展時，我知道 10 月份有很多看跌期權和期權以及擾亂——10 月份市場的進一步擾亂。但是，您能否談談您的預期——或者也許我們應該如何考慮從第三季度到第四季度的營運比率趨勢，考慮到所有因素？

Sure. Typically, the fourth quarter operating ratio is 200 to 250 basis points worse than the third quarter. A couple of factors drive that. Usually, revenues a little bit softer. We give our wage increase the 1st of September, so we get 3, 4 months within the quarter with that new wage rate.

當然。通常情況下，第四季的營運比率比第三季差200至250個基點。有幾個因素推動了這一點。通常，收入會稍微疲軟。我們在 9 月 1 日增加工資，因此該季度內有 3、4 個月的時間採用新的工資率。

But multiple factors that generally are driving that change. One thing to note, we also do actuarial assessment each year, we conduct that in the fourth quarter, and we normalize for that, just to assume it stays flat with the previous quarter, but we've seen adjustments in the past. That can be favorable, which is what we had last year as well as unfavorable. So assuming those costs stay different, I think that we can be in the 150 to 200 basis point deterioration range, so slightly better than what we would historically see.

但通常有多種因素推動了這項改變。需要注意的一點是，我們每年也會進行精算評估，我們在第四季度進行精算評估，並對此進行標準化，只是假設它與上一季度持平，但我們過去已經看到了調整。這可能是有利的，這是我們去年所經歷的，也可能是不利的。因此，假設這些成本保持不同，我認為我們可能會處於 150 到 200 個基點的惡化範圍內，比我們歷史上看到的情況略好。

Some of that, we're obviously starting the quarter out with a little favorability versus our normal sequential trend as we discussed. And so I think that we expect some volumes to kind of normalize, if you will, back to where they otherwise would have been for November and December. But that still gives us a little bit of a head start, and I think will help us drive a little bit of outperformance versus our normal trend there.

其中一些，我們顯然在本季開始時與我們討論的正常連續趨勢相比有一點好感。因此，我認為，如果你願意的話，我們預計一些交易量會恢復到 11 月和 12 月的正常水平。但這仍然為我們帶來了一些領先優勢，我認為這將有助於我們推動表現優於正常趨勢。

The next question is from Ravi Shanker with Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Ravi Shanker。

So just maybe a 2024 question, if you will. It looks like yourselves and maybe a lot of the big LTLs still have a fair bit of excess capacity in their network even after absorbing the Yellow volumes. I'm wondering how you think the kind of -- how numbers will play out when the up cycle comes, do you expect to see the market has suddenly tightened up and there to be like a rising tide of pricing? Or do you just think that you get better incremental margins as the volumes come in? Kind of where do you think the 2024 upcycle looks like in a post year (inaudible) at this point?

如果你願意的話，也許只是一個 2024 年的問題。看來你們自己，也許還有很多大型零擔運輸公司，即使在吸收了黃色卷之後，其網絡中仍然有相當多的過剩產能。我想知道您如何看待這種情況——當上升週期到來時，數字將如何發揮作用，您是否期望看到市場突然收緊，並且出現價格上漲的浪潮？或者您只是認為隨著銷量的增加，您可以獲得更好的增量利潤？您認為 2024 年的升級週期在年後會是什麼樣子（聽不清楚）？

Well, I think it's yet to be determined for 2024. Certainly, there's a lot of DOEs that would suggest this could be a year of inflection. But we also believe the same thing we thought we were going to see a rebound in the spring of this year, so we're cautiously optimistic about what next year may bring.

嗯，我認為 2024 年尚未確定。當然，有很多能源部表示這可能是拐點的一年。但我們也相信，我們認為今年春天將會看到反彈，因此我們對明年可能帶來的情況持謹慎樂觀的態度。

As we've said before, with the post Yellow situation, we want to be measured with our approach and continue to believe that slow and steady wins the race. So we didn't try to go out and immediately win as much share as was out there in the market, but we're trying to do it in the right way in leveraging the capacity that we have and not just the capacity and the service in the network, there's a people capacity element as well as equipment.

正如我們之前所說，在黃色後的情況下，我們希望衡量我們的方法，並繼續相信緩慢而穩定的方式會贏得比賽。因此，我們並沒有試圖走出去並立即贏得市場上盡可能多的份額，但我們正在嘗試以正確的方式利用我們擁有的能力而不僅僅是能力和服務在網絡中，既有人員能力要素，也有設備要素。

And I don't know that there's as much capacity in the market, as you may have indicated with your question because we're hearing it every day. We're hearing about competitors that are missing pickups. They don't have the people part of their capacity equation solved and maybe took on too much freight and are starting to have negative implications from their overall service products. So we believe that we'll continue to win market share, but do it in the right way by giving superior service at a fair price to our customers and offering a value that's unmatched in our industry. And if we get some positive economic support, I think that you've seen in past cycles when we actually get there, 2018 and 2021 are good examples where we try to stay ahead of the growth curve with the capacity investments that we consistently make to be able to take on that volume when it's there.

我不知道市場上有這麼多容量，正如您在問題中所指出的那樣，因為我們每天都會聽到這樣的消息。我們聽說競爭對手缺少皮卡。他們沒有解決能力方程式中的人員部分，並且可能承擔了太多的貨運，並開始對他們的整體服務產品產生負面影響。因此，我們相信我們將繼續贏得市場份額，但要以正確的方式做到這一點，以公平的價格向我們的客戶提供優質的服務，並提供我們行業中無與倫比的價值。如果我們得到一些積極的經濟支持，我想你已經在過去的周期中看到了，當我們真正實現這一目標時，2018 年和2021 年就是很好的例子，我們試圖透過我們持續進行的產能投資來保持成長曲線的領先地位。當它存在時能夠承受該量。

And when we look at those 2 years that I just referenced, we significantly outgrew the markets in those years despite the strength in underlying demand because of that excess capacity that we had in place.

當我們回顧我剛才提到的兩年時，儘管由於我們的產能過剩而導致潛在需求強勁，但我們的成長速度仍顯著超過了市場的成長速度。

The next question is from Chris Wetherbee with Citigroup.

下一個問題來自花旗集團的 Chris Wetherbee。

Maybe I could piggyback on that a little bit. As we think about 2024, I know normally you guys talk about costs. You talked about price sort of relative to cost and be able to -- need to exceed that in any sort of normal year. I guess in post Yellow, as you think about '24, do we need to see something else to be able to sort of spark a better-than-normal pricing year for you guys in 2024? I think there are expectations that next year naturally would be because of what happened with Yellow. But is a normal cyclical recovery enough to spark something that would be better than average? I just want to get your sort of general take on how sort of spring loaded or not you think the pricing environment is?

也許我可以稍微利用一下。當我們考慮 2024 年時，我知道你們通常會談論成本。您談到了價格與成本的關係，並且能夠——需要在任何正常年份超過這一水平。我想在黃色後，當你想到 24 時，我們是否需要看到其他東西才能在 2024 年為你們帶來比正常定價更好的一年？我認為人們對明年的預期自然是因為黃色發生的事情。但正常的周期性復甦是否足以引發優於平均的情況？我只是想了解您對彈簧加載方式的整體看法，您認為定價環境如何？

Yes, sure. Well, I think the environment continues to be strong overall, especially given the supply shock that happened. But I think our approach is different from many of our competitors. We believe in a long-term consistent approach to pricing. And we try to target obtaining 100 to 150 basis points of price above cost each year. We've had some cost pressure this year, and that's evident in our numbers. But I believe that, that starts improving as we go into next year, especially if we can get a little bit of volume recovery.

是的，當然。嗯，我認為整體環境仍然強勁，特別是考慮到發生的供應衝擊。但我認為我們的方法與許多競爭對手不同。我們相信長期一致的定價方法。我們的目標是每年獲得比成本高 100 到 150 個基點的價格。今年我們面臨一些成本壓力，這在我們的數據中顯而易見。但我相信，隨著明年的到來，這種情況會開始改善，特別是如果我們的銷售能夠有所恢復的話。

We're already seeing the core inflation in our business moderating. It did in the third quarter. And I think that same trend can carry through in 4Q and -- 2024 as well. But I think the market should certainly be conducive to us being able to obtain the increases that we believe we need to justify and cover our cost inflation, but also the investments that we're making in capacity.

我們已經看到我們業務的核心通膨正在放緩。第三季確實如此。我認為同樣的趨勢也可以在第四季和 2024 年持續下去。但我認為市場肯定有利於我們獲得我們認為需要證明和彌補成本通膨所需的成長，同時也有利於我們進行產能投資。

We're only a carrier that's really investing significantly in service center capacity. We've invested $2 billion over the last 10 years. And as a result, we've been able to increase our door capacity by 50%. And when you look at the public LTL companies at least, which are 65% to 70% of the market, overall capacity there is down close to 10%.

我們只是一家真正在服務中心容量方面進行了大量投資的營運商。過去 10 年我們投資了 20 億美元。結果，我們的門容量增加了 50%。至少當你看看佔市場 65% 至 70% 的上市零擔公司時，整體運能下降了近 10%。

And so I think that customers understand that and continue to give us the increases that we need that basically support the value proposition that we're able to offer them. When you think about the supply chain challenges and whatnot that shippers have had to work through over the last couple of years, in particular, capacity hasn't necessarily been at the forefront of the conversation over the last year, but over the last 3, and it certainly has been critical. And so we feel like that's what we need to continue to focus on.

因此，我認為客戶理解這一點，並繼續為我們提供所需的成長，這基本上支持我們能夠為他們提供的價值主張。當您考慮供應鏈挑戰以及托運人在過去幾年中必須解決的問題時，尤其是運力不一定是去年討論的焦點，但在過去三年中，這無疑是至關重要的。所以我們覺得這就是我們需要繼續關注的問題。

But we'll continue with our same approach like we always have, and it's produced good things for us from a financial results standpoint, but an improvement in our balance sheet to support the ongoing investments that we believe we need to continue to make.

但我們將繼續採用我們一貫的做法，從財務表現的角度來看，它為我們帶來了好處，而且改善了我們的資產負債表，以支持我們認為需要繼續進行的持續投資。

The next question is from Scott Group with Wolfe Research.

下一個問題來自 Scott Group 和 Wolfe Research。

I want to ask about your perspective on share gains. So we've pulled forward, I guess, about 10 years of share gains from Yellow into a quarter. I guess do you think post Yellow, the pace of share gain for you guys in future years will be as good as what we've seen from you historically?

我想問一下您對股票收益的看法。因此，我想，我們已經將 Yellow 大約 10 年的份額收益推升至四分之一。我想你認為在黃色之後，你們未來幾年的股票成長速度會像我們歷史上看到的那樣好嗎？

And I guess I'm curious about this question in the context of this upcoming Yellow auction. I mean ultimately, I guess I want to know like how much -- what is your strategy in terms of terminal growth? And how much do you want to add? Obviously, you were involved in the stalking horse bid. What's the strategy here with this upcoming auction?

我想我對即將到來的黃色拍賣的這個問題很好奇。我的意思是，最終，我想我想知道多少——你們在終端成長方面的策略是什麼？您想添加多少？顯然，你參與了跟蹤馬競。這次即將舉行的拍賣會採取什麼策略？

Well, we don't want to get into any details on that, just given the fact that it's ongoing, and we're continuing to evaluate those options. But our long-term strategic plan didn't depend on one competitor going out of business and us being able to obtain real estate from them. Our plan will continue to be give superior service at a fair price. And service is what wins market share for us as well as having available capacity.

好吧，我們不想透露任何細節，只是考慮到它正在進行中，並且我們正在繼續評估這些選項。但我們的長期戰略計劃並不依賴某個競爭對手倒閉以及我們能夠從他們那裡獲得房地產。我們的計劃將繼續以公平的價格提供優質的服務。服務是我們贏得市場份額以及可用產能的關鍵。

Again, you look at the performance that we have with our volumes and market share in 2018, 2021, 10 points outperformance versus the industry. And that wasn't just Yellow that we were comparing against. It is the industry, so we win share from others. And I believe we've been able to capture more market share for the -- when you look at the growth in the industry than anyone else as well. We've doubled our market share over the last 10 years that will require investment as we go forward. We expect that we'll continue to spend 10% to 15% of our revenues each year on capital expenditures. That will continue to be within real estate and with equipment to support our anticipated growth, but we certainly believe that we can be the biggest market share winner over the next 10 years, just like we have over the past 10 because of the value offering that we have, just validated by Mastio this week.

再一次，你看看我們 2018 年、2021 年的銷售量和市佔率的表現，比產業高出 10 個百分點。我們所比較的不僅僅是黃色。這是行業，所以我們從別人那裡贏得份額。我相信，當你看到該行業的成長時，我們比其他任何人都能夠獲得更多的市場份額。在過去 10 年裡，我們的市佔率翻了一番，這需要我們繼續投資。我們預計每年將繼續將收入的 10% 至 15% 用於資本支出。這將繼續在房地產和設備方面支持我們的預期增長，但我們當然相信，我們可以在未來 10 年成為最大的市場份額贏家，就像我們在過去 10 年一樣，因為我們提供的價值我們已經，本週剛剛由Mastio 驗證。

We've won this award 14 years in a row. We're very proud. We had better performance than we've ever had in the survey, winning 25 of the 28 attributes that they measure. And our overall gap between us and the industry widened out further than it's ever been.

我們已連續 14 年榮獲此獎項。我們非常自豪。我們的表現比調查中的以往都要好，贏得了他們衡量的 28 個屬性中的 25 個。我們與產業之間的整體差距比以往任何時候都進一步擴大。

So we feel good about where we are, but we're also focused on making sure that our service continuously improves as we go forward, and that's what will be key to our ability to win share.

因此，我們對自己的現狀感到滿意，但我們也專注於確保我們的服務在前進過程中不斷改進，這將是我們贏得市場份額的關鍵。

So if I understand, Adam, you don't think that like your long-term volume growth, share gain is any different going forward post Yellow?

所以，如果我理解的話，亞當，你不認為像你的長期銷售成長一樣，黃色之後的市佔率成長有什麼不同嗎？

Not at all. I don't think the formula changes just because they're not here and their 45,000, 50,000 shipments, whatever it was, is now dispersed. And that share is somewhat with us, somewhat with other carriers. I think there's probably an element of it that went into the truckload world as well that probably will, at some point, be rebalanced within LTL once the truckload world tightens up. That's yet to be seen, but trying to trace the number of shipments they had versus at least what the public carriers have disclosed, there's a missing element there that I believe may have landed in the truckload world.

一點也不。我不認為公式會改變，只是因為他們不在這裡，他們的 45,000、50,000 批貨物，無論是什麼，現在都分散了。這個份額在某種程度上是我們的，在某種程度上是其他運營商的。我認為其中可能有一個因素也進入了卡車運輸領域，一旦卡車運輸世界收緊，它可能會在某個時候在零擔運輸中重新平衡。這還有待觀察，但試圖追蹤他們的發貨數量，至少與公共承運商披露的數量相比，有一個缺失的元素，我認為可能已經落在了卡車裝載的世界中。

But for us, the conversations that we have with customers, the long-term trends that we think will support growth in the LTL industry, be it continued improvement with e-commerce trends, that's conducing to moving freight by LTL, whether we see increased manufacturing, at least in North America, a lot of those things will be more conducive to freight moving by LTL for which there's no one in the industry that is delivering the same type of service and value that we can offer customers. And so that's what we'll remain focused on.

但對我們來說，我們與客戶的對話，我們認為將支持零擔行業成長的長期趨勢，無論是電子商務趨勢的持續改善，都有助於零擔貨運，無論我們是否看到增加製造業，至少在北美，其中許多東西將更有利於零擔貨運，而業內沒有人能夠提供與我們可以為客戶提供相同類型的服務和價值。這就是我們將繼續關注的重點。

We've got to continue to focus on managing our cost inflation, and we focus (inaudible) on that as well. So we can continue to have that 100 to 150 basis point price versus cost spread keeping our prices relative to the industry. But certainly, when you think about the overall value equation, there's no one that we believe can match what we can offer a shipper.

我們必須繼續專注於管理成本通膨，我們也關注（聽不清楚）這一點。因此，我們可以繼續保持 100 到 150 個基點的價格與成本價差，並保持我們的價格相對於行業的水平。但當然，當您考慮整體價值方程式時，我們認為沒有任何一個可以與我們為托運人提供的服務相符。

Next question is from Amit Mehrotra with Deutsche Bank.

下一個問題來自德意志銀行的 Amit Mehrotra。

I had two questions, if that's okay. So first question, you just did like a 70 and change OR in a broad freight environment that's pretty weak, to say the least. Does that -- that obviously informs the opportunity in a broadly -- better freight environment? I know you have the [6] and/or OR target, but I was wondering if you can update us that because I assume you're quite happy and impressed with the resiliency of the OR and what has been a weak market even including Yellow.

我有兩個問題，如果可以的話。所以第一個問題，你只是喜歡 70 並改變 OR 在一個廣泛的貨運環境中，至少可以說，這是相當弱的。這是否——這顯然預示著在更廣泛的——更好的貨運環境中的機會？我知道您有 [6] 和/或 OR 目標，但我想知道您是否可以更新我們的情況，因為我認為您對 OR 的彈性以及疲軟的市場（甚至包括黃色）感到非常滿意和印象深刻。

And then I want to push back a little bit on the Mastio (inaudible). Obviously, you guys on a headline basis, have been exceptional. And I know it's really hard to get that #1 national carrier position. But the value proposition for OD historically has been, yes, we're more expensive. But on a total cost basis, we're still better because of our claims ratio and our on-time performance. And you guys always were in the middle or below that fair value band in the Mastio survey.

然後我想稍微推遲一下 Mastio（聽不清楚）。顯然，從頭條新聞來看，你們都是非常出色的。我知道要獲得全國運營商第一的位置確實很困難。但從歷史上看，OD 的價值主張是，是的，我們比較貴。但從總成本來看，我們的索賠率和準時表現仍然更好。在 Mastio 調查中，你們總是處於公允價值區間的中間或以下。

Today, you're kind of at the tippy top. And it's hard to improve 99% service, 0.1% claims ratio, but your price is going up, which on the margin reduces the value that you provide to the market, which may explain some of the market share. I'm sure you disagree with this, but help me understand how you think about moving up towards the very top of the fair value band and what that means for your market share opportunity going forward?

今天，你正處於巔峰。而且很難提高 99% 的服務、0.1% 的索賠率，但你的價格正在上漲，這在一定程度上降低了你為市場提供的價值，這可能解釋了一些市場份額。我確信您不同意這一點，但請幫助我了解您如何看待向公允價值區間的最高點邁進，以及這對您未來的市場份額機會意味著什麼？

Well, there's always going to be movement there. And what we've got to go by is not necessarily that data. That data is very important, and we pay a lot of attention to it, but it's the conversations we have every day with customers. And the conversations when we go back to post pandemic when someone may have moved freight away from us because of price and trying to save a little bit, but if they were in jeopardy of losing a customer because the freight never got picked up or it never got delivered, then there's a premium there for sure.

嗯，那裡總會有動靜。我們所依賴的不一定是數據。這些數據非常重要，我們非常關注它，但它是我們每天與客戶進行的對話。當我們回到大流行後的對話時，有人可能因為價格原因而將貨物從我們這裡轉移，並試圖節省一點，但如果他們因為貨物從未被提走或從未被提走而面臨失去客戶的危險交付了，那麼肯定有溢價。

If your product is not on the shelf available for sale, if you got a production line that shut down, waiting on a part or a piece, I think shippers are looking more strategically at value. That seems to be the outcome post pandemic world. And anytime we go through a slow environment like we've been for the last year, there can be some movement within some of those categories. But for us, trying to have a consistent approach to pricing each year, being able to sit across the table from a customer and have an open, honest conversation about being fair to us and being fair to them is what we strive for.

如果你的產品不在貨架上可供銷售，如果你的生產線關閉，等待零件或零件，我認為托運人會更具策略性地考慮價值。這似乎就是大流行後世界的結果。每當我們經歷像去年這樣的緩慢環境時，其中某些類別可能會發生一些變化。但對我們來說，每年嘗試採用一致的定價方法，能夠與客戶坐在桌子對面，就對我們和他們公平進行公開、誠實的對話，這就是我們努力的目標。

And to be able to make the investments that we're doing, like I said earlier, capacity may not have been at the top of mind over the last year because of the overall weakness in underlying demand. And then you had a couple of carriers earlier this year that were making some changes and doing some different things with respect to their pricing. So those are things that you always have that are -- challenges that you manage through.

正如我之前所說，為了能夠進行我們正在進行的投資，由於潛在需求整體疲軟，去年產能可能不是首要考慮的問題。今年早些時候，有幾家營運商做出了一些改變，並在定價方面做了一些不同的事情。所以這些是你一直面臨的事情——你可以應付的挑戰。

But that environment changes pretty quickly. And keep reference in 2021, that was a period where competitors were increasing rates faster than us where they're more up play in the market play in -- versus having a consistent approach. And all of a sudden, we look like a lot better value, if you will, when our service is way ahead on the spectrum. But now that someone has closed that pricing gap because they've come in and taken the 10%, 15% type of rate increase, that's what drives market share to us, and it's market share that stays sticky.

但這種環境變化得很快。請參考 2021 年，當時競爭對手的成長率比我們快，他們在市場競爭中發揮更大的作用，而不是採取一致的方法。突然間，當我們的服務在頻譜上遙遙領先時，如果您願意的話，我們看起來會更有價值。但現在有人已經縮小了價格差距，因為他們已經加入並接受了 10%、15% 的加息，這就是推動我們市場份額的原因，而且市場份額保持黏性。

We have had great continuity within our large accounts when we look at our top national accounts. We don't have turnover in that business over the past 12 months. We've not lost accounts or lost lanes just in many cases, that the demand environment has been weaker. So demand for our customers' products, if you will. They've not been able to tender as much freight to us. So it's something that we always are relevant and mindful of where our pricing is relative to others.

當我們審視我們的頂級國民帳戶時，我們的大帳戶具有很大的連續性。過去 12 個月我們該業務沒有營業額。我們並沒有失去帳戶或失去航線，只是在許多情況下，需求環境較弱。因此，如果您願意的話，對我們客戶的產品有需求。他們無法向我們提供那麼多的貨物。因此，我們始終關注我們的定價相對於其他定價的情況​​。

But we do what we need to do and what makes sense for us. That's part of our long-term strategic plan and we just make sure we communicate what our needs are going to be with customers. And it's a model that's worked. We've been able to grow our revenues 11% to 12% on average each year over the past 10 years. And that's the same formula that we want to be able to work as we move forward.

但我們會做我們需要做的事情以及對我們有意義的事情。這是我們長期策略計畫的一部分，我們只是確保與客戶溝通我們的需求。這是一個行之有效的模式。在過去 10 年裡，我們的收入平均每年增長 11% 至 12%。這也是我們希望在前進過程中能夠發揮作用的公式。

It's a consistent and it sounds like a simple plan, but there's a lot of complexities behind the scenes, if you will. And we just want to keep executing and believe we can. And I think that as we go through the next 12 months, if we see some real economic recovery, I think that we'll see our numbers continue to outperform from a growth standpoint than the industry, just like we've seen in prior cycles.

這是一個一致的計劃，聽起來像是一個簡單的計劃，但如果你願意的話，幕後有很多複雜的事情。我們只想繼續執行並相信我們可以。我認為，在接下來的12 個月裡，如果我們看到一些真正的經濟復甦，我認為從成長的角度來看，我們的數據將繼續跑贏整個產業，就像我們在之前的周期中看到的那樣。

Next question is from Jon Chappell with Evercore ISI.

下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Jon Chappell。

Adam, you're able to handle this surge of 3Q business without really changing the cost structure that much. So as we think about kind of a return to cyclical recovery at some point next year, whether it's first half or back half loaded, did this surge in volume in the third quarter and October absorb a lot of your spare capacity and a lot of the ability to have the incremental margin expansion, so as you can see the volume recovery on a more sticky basis, you can still increase the cost structure on a lesser one-for-one basis and get that historical OR improvement? Or is there going to be a bit of a catch-up where you're going to have to add more labor, more resources if the broader demand tailwind actually accelerates next year?

Adam，您能夠應對第三季業務的激增，而無需真正改變太多成本結構。因此，當我們考慮明年某個時候恢復週期性復甦時，無論是上半年還是下半年，第三季和 10 月的銷量激增是否吸收了大量閒置產能和大量產能？能夠實現增量利潤擴張，因此當您可以在更具黏性的基礎上看到銷售恢復時，您仍然可以在較小的一對一基礎上增加成本結構並獲得歷史OR 改善嗎？或者，如果明年更廣泛的需求順風實際上加速的話，是否會出現一些追趕，你將不得不增加更多的勞動力、更多的資源？

Well, we're -- we were in a great spot coming in to this quarter from a labor standpoint, from an equipment standpoint and definitely from a service center standpoint, and we've intentionally been heavy. We've tried to protect as many driver positions in particular that we could as we've gone through this slow period. We certainly have seen some attrition within our workforce over the past year. But we've tried to keep as many people on board as we could, knowing that the inflection would individually happened.

嗯，從勞動力的角度、從設備的角度以及絕對從服務中心的角度來看，我們在本季度處於一個很好的位置，而且我們有意加大力度。我們已經盡力保護盡可能多的車手位置，尤其是在經歷了這段緩慢的時期之後。在過去的一年裡，我們確實看到了員工隊伍的一些流失。但我們已經盡力讓盡可能多的人參與其中，因為我們知道這種變化會單獨發生。

We believe that it was going to happen earlier in the year. And obviously, we're disappointed when it didn't, but we just continue to try to manage through. And here we are. It did happen in the manner that we thought that it would, but we were well positioned to respond and our existing workforce has been able to do so. Now from here, we have restarted the hiring process in some locations. And we'll continue to run our internal truck driving schools to produce new drivers and have them available as the demand levels dictate. If our shipment volumes continue to increase, if we can see sequential improvement through next year.

我們相信這將在今年早些時候發生。顯然，我們對沒有做到這一點感到失望，但我們只是繼續努力度過難關。我們到了。它確實以我們想像的方式發生，但我們已經做好了應對的準備，而且我們現有的員工也能夠做到這一點。現在，我們已經在一些地點重新啟動了招募流程。我們將繼續運營我們的內部卡車駕駛學校來培養新司機，並根據需求水平提供他們。如果我們的出貨量持續增加，如果我們能看到明年的持續改善。

We want to make sure that we've got all elements of capacity in place to be able to deal with it and not be playing from behind, if you will, and having to try to catch it or not being able to say yes to a customer if they're coming to us and asking if we can handle incremental volumes for them. So it's always a challenge to try to walk that tight rope in terms of managing the elements of capacity. But I think that we did a great job with getting through it this year and we may have carried a little extra cost in doing so.

我們希望確保我們擁有足夠的能力來應對它，而不是從後面玩，如果你願意的話，必須試圖抓住它或無法對一個人說“是”客戶是否來找我們並詢問我們是否可以為他們處理增量數量。因此，在管理容量要素方面嘗試走緊繩子始終是一個挑戰。但我認為我們今年的工作做得很好，而且我們可能為此付出了一些額外的代價。

But I think our operating ratio has performed about where we thought it would, given the decrease in volumes. We said earlier in the year that our focus would be to managing our direct cost even in a low volume environment. We've been able to do so without any sacrifice whatsoever to our service quality. In fact, some of our service metrics have actually improved as we've gone through this year. So we're pleased with where our service quality is, the performance of our team, the improving efficiencies that we're seeing. We'll continue to add to the team and continue to rebalance our fleet as well.

但我認為，考慮到銷售量的下降，我們的營運比率已經達到了我們預期的水平。我們在今年稍早表示，即使在低產量環境下，我們的重點也將是管理我們的直接成本。我們能夠做到這一點，而不會犧牲我們的服務品質。事實上，今年我們的一些服務指標實際上已經有所改善。因此，我們對我們的服務品質、團隊的表現以及我們所看到的效率的提高感到滿意。我們將繼續增加團隊成員並繼續重新平衡我們的車隊。

As we go through 2024, we've still got some deferred replacements that -- where we want to improve the average age of our fleet. But all of that will continue to be worked out as we go through the next year or so. And we want to get back to a growth environment, an improving operating ratio environment, all those things we're kind of used to seeing, we just need a little cooperation from the economy to help us along the way.

到 2024 年，我們仍然有一些推遲的替代品，我們希望提高機隊的平均壽命。但所有這些都將在我們明年左右的時間內繼續解決。我們希望回到成長環境，改善營運比率環境，所有這些我們已經習慣看到的事情，我們只需要經濟方面的一點合作來幫助我們一路走來。

The next question is from Tom Wadewitz with UBS.

下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的湯姆·瓦德維茨。

Yes. Adam, you've talked a bit about -- I think you said like inflation can come down somewhat next year. And then you've talked a bit about price as well, and you've seen -- that's pretty constructive view on where price is going to be next year. If we don't see improvement in the freight market activity, do you think you'd be looking at those two factors supporting margin improvement because it seems like you put those two together, you would see the margin improve. But how do you think about, I guess, lower inflation and a favorable price and what that does for margin, even if you don't see freight improve?

是的。亞當，你已經談過一些話——我想你說過明年通貨膨脹可能會下降。然後你也談到了一些關於價格的問題，你已經看到了——這對於明年的價格走勢來說是非常有建設性的觀點。如果我們沒有看到貨運市場活動的改善，您是否認為您會考慮這兩個支持利潤率改善的因素，因為似乎將這兩個因素放在一起，您會看到利潤率有所改善。但我想，即使您沒有看到運費改善，您如何看待較低的通貨膨脹和有利的價格以及這對利潤率的影響？

Well, I think that we had -- for one thing, we had a pretty hefty CapEx year this year. And when you look at our operating ratio and the change that we have in the third quarter, that was a bit of a headwind, 110 basis points headwind on the depreciation side and some of the CapEx was basically related to what's happened over the last couple of years with the OEM challenges that we've had, shortages of parts that have required us to carry maybe a little bit more equipment on the books than we would sort of look at from a -- if we were optimizing the fleet standpoint.

嗯，我認為我們——一方面，今年我們的資本支出相當高。當你看到我們的營運比率和第三季度的變化時，你會發現這有點逆風，貶值方面有 110 個基點的逆風，而且一些資本支出基本上與過去幾年發生的情況有關多年來，我們面臨OEM 挑戰，零件短缺，這要求我們攜帶的設備可能比我們從優化機隊的角度來看的要多一些。

So I think as we go through next year, if it looks like it's going to be another flattish year, we're already sort of a leg up, if you will. A lot of times, you can take September volumes for the month and kind of just use that to correlate to what the next year's volumes will be. And so we might be looking at even if it's a -- underlying demand doesn't change at all. We believe that we've got the opportunity to win some of the share that we continue to believe will be turning around over the next 6 months to a year given some of the service issues that I referenced early, we're hearing about every day.

因此，我認為，當我們經歷明年時，如果看起來又是平淡的一年，如果你願意的話，我們已經取得了一定的進展。很多時候，您可以將 9 月的銷售量作為當月的銷售量，然後用它來與下一年的銷售量相關聯。因此，即使潛在需求根本沒有改變，我們也可能會考慮。我們相信，鑑於我之前提到的一些服務問題，我們每天都會聽到，我們有機會贏得一些份額，我們仍然相信這些份額將在未來 6 個月到一年內扭轉局面。 。

But we're already in a position where we might see a little bit of volume growth. And then get some yield on top of that, that in a -- cost may be improving as well. Then yes, that's the environment where in the past, we've been able to produce some operating ratio improvement.

但我們已經處於可能會看到銷量略有成長的情況。然後在此基礎上獲得一些收益，成本也可能會有所改善。是的，在過去的環境中，我們能夠實現一些營運比率的改善。

So I mean it sounds like you feel pretty good about where you're at in '24, even if you don't see a lot of improvement in the freight market.

所以我的意思是，聽起來你對 24 年的處境感覺很好，即使你沒有看到貨運市場有很大的改善。

I think so. I mean, we're certainly -- we saw the step-up basically in August. And then I was pleased with the performance that we had in September. And when we talked about post the mid-quarter update, where we were from a shipments per day standpoint, we had been at 47,000 shipments per day since December of last year. And basically, that average carried forward through July.

我想是這樣。我的意思是，我們當然——我們基本上在八月就看到了進步。然後我對我們九月的表現感到滿意。當我們談到季度中期更新後時，從每天發貨量的角度來看，自去年 12 月以來，我們每天的發貨量一直為 47,000 件。基本上，這個平均值延續到了七月。

We saw that step up. We've talked about kind of an incremental 3,000 shipments per day, and that's where we were in August. In September, normally, it's a 2.5% to 3% increase in shipments per day would be normal seasonality. Although the last month of the first quarter and the second quarter, I saw a little bit of a pickup, but nothing close to where normal seasonality would be. That's kind of where we've been missing some of the growth over the last year, but our shipments per day were up 2.1%. So that performed a lot better than what we've been seeing at least in the last month of the quarter, and that really was no new impact. That's just some share shift and then existing customers that are giving us more freight, if you will.

我們看到了這項進步。我們已經討論過每天增加 3,000 批貨物，這就是我們 8 月的情況。 9月份，通常情況下，每天的出貨量增加2.5%到3%是正常的季節性。儘管第一季和第二季的最後一個月，我看到了一點回升，但與正常季節性的情況相差甚遠。這就是我們去年錯過的一些成長的地方，但我們的每日出貨量成長了 2.1%。因此，其表現比我們至少在本季最後一個月看到的要好得多，而且這確實沒有新的影響。如果你願意的話，這只是一些份額的轉移，然後現有客戶給了我們更多的運費。

So there's been a lot obviously going on over the last four months within the industry, some things obviously permanent. And then like we mentioned, I believe that we'll see some of the volume gain that we had in October that will return to a competitor. So trying to kind of figure out where the daily shipment count gets to in November and December is a little difficult. But if things kind of shake out, if we had just normalized, if you will, and we're more along normal seasonal patterns, we would have been in an environment where -- or if we get back to that from November, December, rather, to where our shipment counts are more flattish, with where we were last year in the fourth quarter and revenue is probably becoming more flattish as well versus being down 5.5% in the third quarter. It may still be down slightly, but it's getting -- everything is kind of getting back to flattish. And I think that, that's a good position to build on as we go into 2024.

因此，在過去的四個月裡，行業內明顯發生了很多事情，其中​​一些事情顯然是永久性的。然後，就像我們提到的那樣，我相信我們將看到 10 月的部分銷售成長將返回給競爭對手。因此，想要弄清楚 11 月和 12 月的每日出貨量達到多少有點困難。但如果事情發生了變化，如果我們剛剛恢復正常，如果你願意的話，而且我們更符合正常的季節性模式，我們就會處於這樣的環境中——或者如果我們從11 月、12 月回到那個環境，相反，我們的出貨量與去年第四季的情況相比更加持平，收入也可能變得更加持平，而第三季下降了 5.5%。它可能仍然略有下降，但一切都在變得平淡。我認為，當我們進入 2024 年時，這是一個很好的基礎。

Hopefully, we'll continue to see some more of those share gains, like I mentioned, just service related. And then if we can get a little bit of help from the economy, then that would build on even more volumes and then we'll just continue to execute, like I said earlier, on the volume side and managing costs. And if we can have that positive delta there, then that's a good setup even if underlying demand is not significantly changing.

希望我們能繼續看到更多的份額成長，就像我提到的，只是與服務有關。然後，如果我們能夠從經濟中獲得一點幫助，那麼這將增加銷量，然後我們將繼續執行，就像我之前所說的那樣，在銷售方面和管理成本方面。如果我們能夠在那裡實現正增量，那麼即使潛在需求沒有顯著變化，這也是一個很好的設定。

If it does, and we're not going to precall it like we did last year. But if it does, then that's been -- the type of environment where I think our model shines the brightest when competitors are at capacity issues, and we believe that's happening just based on customer feedback today, then that's when we can really put on the incremental volumes that we build our network up to be prepared for. And so that possibility is out there, but a lot depends on what we may see from an overall economic standpoint.

如果確實如此，我們不會像去年那樣預先調用它。但如果確實如此，那麼我認為，當競爭對手遇到容量問題時，我們的模型就會表現得最為出色，我們相信，根據今天的客戶反饋，這種情況就會發生，那時我們就可以真正發揮作用了。我們建立網路以做好準備的增量量。因此，這種可能性是存在的，但很大程度上取決於我們從整體經濟角度來看會發生什麼。

The next question is from Jordan Alliger with Goldman Sachs.

下一個問題來自高盛的喬丹·阿利格。

Spoke quite a bit about price on the call today. I'm just curious on mix and the types of shipments you're getting, obviously, weight per shipment, maybe discussing that, which is basically trended down, sort of thoughts around that and shipment mix.

今天在電話會議上談到了很多關於價格的問題。我只是對您收到的貨物組合和類型感到好奇，顯然，每批貨物的重量，也許會討論這一點，基本上趨勢是下降的，圍繞這一點和貨物組合的一些想法。

Yes. Our weight per shipment has trended down and really it went down, I guess, in August to about 1,485 pounds, and that was some of that incremental freight that we saw that pickup of about 3,000 shipments per day. Increased a little bit in September, which you'd expect, and we're kind of hanging around that 1,485 pound range here in October as well. So that's something where I believe we're kind of at a baseline, reflecting kind of the underlying freight that's in our book right now.

是的。我們每批貨物的重量呈下降趨勢，我猜，8 月確實下降到了約 1,485 磅，這是我們每天看到約 3,000 批貨物增加的部分增量貨運。 9 月略有增加，正如您所預料的那樣，10 月我們也徘徊在 1,485 磅的範圍內。因此，我認為我們處於基線，反映了我們目前書中的潛在運費。

And that will be a metric to watch to see are there increased orders for widgets, does that 1,485 pounds -- do we see that grow to 1,500 to 1,520 pounds getting back closer to the 1,600-pound range that we've seen in robust economies.

這將是一個值得關注的指標，看看小部件的訂單是否增加，是否增加了1,485 磅——我們是否會看到訂單增加到1,500 至1,520 磅，回到接近我們在強勁經濟體中看到的1,600 磅範圍。

So it's -- like anything, the freight that you take on as long as you understand the handling characteristics and what the pricing ought to be, that decrease in weight per shipment did have a little bit of a favorable impact on our yield metrics during the quarter. And -- but that's what we have built our business on.

So it's -- like anything, the freight that you take on as long as you understand the handling characteristics and what the pricing ought to be, that decrease in weight per shipment did have a little bit of a favorable impact on our yield metrics during the四分之一.而且——但這就是我們建立業務的基礎。

It's -- investing heavily in all the tools and technologies to understand the freight that we're moving to make sure that we're moving everything profitably with the right pricing in place. And I think that we've made those adjustments to the incremental freight that we've seen thus far.

它是——大力投資所有工具和技術，以了解我們正在運輸的貨物，以確保我們以正確的定價運輸所有貨物並實現盈利。我認為我們已經對迄今為止所看到的增量貨運進行了調整。

The next question is from Eric Morgan with Barclays.

下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的艾瑞克摩根。

I just want to come back to the near term. I think for September, you said tonnage was about 1 point below average seasonality on a sequential basis. But you have confidence you're gaining market share and underlying demand was steady. So just wondering if you can clarify that and maybe if you're seeing any attrition from the initial wave of share shifts. I guess kind of along the lines of an earlier question, just wondering how any new customers you have from this are responding to your premium service but also premium price offering?

我只想回到近期。我想您說 9 月的噸位比季節性平均低約 1 個百分點。但您有信心獲得市場份額並且潛在需求穩定。因此，我想知道您是否可以澄清這一點，也許您是否看到第一波份額轉移帶來的任何損耗。我想有點像之前的問題，只是想知道您由此獲得的新客戶對您的優質服務和高價產品有何反應？

Yes. We -- from a tonnage standpoint, the sequential increase in September from August was up 2.7%, the 10-year average change is a 3.6% increase. So -- but that compares favorably to what our performance has been in the third month of the first few quarters of the year, was the point that I was making. We've seen a little bit stronger pickup in September coming to us versus what we had seen earlier in the year and really no new events, if you will, within the industry that were driving any of that change, just a continuation of some of that freight that had to move at the end of July, we had made the point on the last call that obviously, shippers had to find an immediate home for that freight, and they likely leverage the existing carriers that they had in their networks or at least the large national accounts did.

是的。我們－以噸位的角度來看，9月月增8月增幅為2.7%，10年平均增幅為3.6%。所以——但這與我們今年前幾季第三個月的表現相比是有利的，這就是我要表達的觀點。與今年早些時候相比，我們在 9 月看到了更強勁的回升，並且實際上沒有新事件，如果你願意的話，在推動任何變化的行業內，只是一些變化的延續對於必須在7 月底轉移的貨物，我們在上次電話中指出，顯然，托運人必須立即為該貨物找到一個家，他們可能會利用其網絡中或在至少大型國民賬戶是這樣的。

But we believe and continue to believe that there's going to be some share shifting around. But I think that especially as we go through the fourth quarter, the first quarter of next year, two periods that are seasonally slower during the year is probably the type of environment that shippers will be looking at their overall supply chain partners and figuring out what's the right solution to have. And so I think that we'll see some churn that will be happening over the next 6 months.

但我們相信並將繼續相信，將會有一些份額改變。但我認為，特別是當我們經歷第四季度和明年第一季時，一年中季節性放緩的兩個時期可能是托運人將關注其整體供應鏈合作夥伴並弄清楚什麼是這樣的環境.擁有正確的解決方案。因此，我認為未來 6 個月我們會看到一些變化。

I think that there are probably some customers that were at competitors previously that are taking on margin increases right now at a time when their service is probably deteriorating, but -- or also be looking at the value that OD can provide. And those are the types of accounts that we've seen in prior periods.

我認為，可能有一些以前在競爭對手那裡的客戶現在正在提高利潤，而他們的服務可能正在惡化，但——或者也在考慮 OD 可以提供的價值。這些是我們在之前時期看到的帳戶類型。

It's -- obviously, the situation is different, but I think it could be very similar to 2021. That environment was just all demand-driven, but demand was incredibly strong. There is tremendous opportunity there from a volume standpoint. And a lot of the competitors simply couldn't take on the incremental volumes because they didn't have all the elements of capacity in place to be able to do so.

顯然，情況有所不同，但我認為它可能與 2021 年非常相似。那個環境完全是需求驅動的，但需求非常強勁。從數量的角度來看，那裡存在著巨大的機會。許多競爭對手根本無法承擔增量，因為他們沒有具備做到這一點的所有產能要素。

And they're missing pickups, They're not able to get the freight that they do pick up, delivered on time. And those are the types of customers that increasingly call on Old Dominion. And we're starting to have some of those same types of conversations, maybe not at the same level at this point, but we're having those same conversations today. And we think that, that will create some incremental volume opportunity for us as we progress through the next few quarters.

他們錯過了提貨，他們無法按時交付他們所提貨的貨物。這些類型的客戶越來越多地拜訪舊自治領。我們開始進行一些相同類型的對話，也許目前不在同一級別，但我們今天正在進行相同的對話。我們認為，隨著我們在未來幾季的進展，這將為我們創造一些增量機會。

The next question is from Ken Hoexter with Bank of America.

下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Ken Hoexter。

So the market, obviously, at 30x earnings, taking this a little bit in strides here this morning, maybe it's because the 2%, 2.5% downtick in October, maybe some of the [SDs] give back expectations. But I guess maybe the expectation was for faster growth and that you'd be able to keep the OR, yet you're talking about more measured growth.

因此，市場顯然以 30 倍的本益比，今天早上稍微大步邁進，也許是因為 10 月 2%、2.5% 的下跌，也許一些 [SD] 回饋了預期。但我想也許期望是更快的成長，並且你能夠保留 OR，但你談論的是更可衡量的成長。

So I just want to dig into this. There was a great discussion with Scott earlier into your outlook and your thoughts on sustained growth. But maybe thoughts about the industry and the competitive nature of it, right? So if you've got this bid process on the service centers coming up, which means the capacity just goes elsewhere, it doesn't go away. And maybe everybody thought it was going to go away and that would enable you to continue to take that share.

所以我只是想深入研究一下。早些時候與斯科特就您對持續增長的展望和想法進行了精彩的討論。但也許是對這個產業及其競爭本質的思考，對嗎？因此，如果您對即將到來的服務中心進行招標，這意味著產能會轉移到其他地方，但它不會消失。也許每個人都認為它會消失，這將使你能夠繼續佔據這一份額。

Maybe your thoughts on what does that lack of tightening, right, if more of that capacity spills out to the market on your ability to take that? And I know, Adam, you couldn't give your thoughts on -- but maybe just give the factual stuff, maybe the timing of the service center bids, just so we're all on top of the exact nature of the distribution of those.

也許您的想法是，如果更多的產能溢出到市場，缺乏緊縮會對您的承受能力產生什麼影響？我知道，亞當，你無法給出你的想法 - 但也許只是提供事實資料，也許是服務中心投標的時間，這樣我們就可以了解這些分佈的確切性質。

Yes. I think over the next few weeks, bids will be due. And so I think a lot will be determined, obviously, in the next month or so and figuring out who may end up with some of those service centers. I still believe that some of that capacity will be leaving the industry overall. But the reality is all of those shipments that were in place before, it's been several months now. They found a new home. And so -- someone on the strategic side that might be investing, you've got to look and think about how that would make sense, how much incremental capacity do you want to buy that you would have to go out and how would you use it kind of thing.

是的。我認為在接下來的幾週內，投標將到期。因此，我認為顯然，在下個月左右的時間裡，很多事情都會被確定，並弄清楚誰最終可能會擁有其中一些服務中心。我仍然相信，部分產能將離開整個產業。但現實情況是，所有這些貨物之前就已經到位，現在已經過了幾個月了。他們找到了新家。因此，對於可能進行投資的策略方面的人，您必須審視並思考這有何意義，您想要購買多少增量產能，而您必須走出去，以及您將如何使用是這樣的事情。

And so those are some of the thoughts that in considerations that I'm sure that we have and that others have as well. But again, from our standpoint, we believe we continue to grow. We will continue to invest in one shape or form, whether it's trying to go back after some of these properties in that bid or if it's something totally independent, which was the path that we were on before they closed their doors.

因此，這些是我確信我們和其他人也有的一些想法。但從我們的角度來看，我們再次相信我們會繼續成長。我們將繼續投資一種形式，無論是試圖在競標中的某些房產之後返回，還是完全獨立的東西，這是我們在他們關門之前所走的道路。

Either way, I think when we think about the long term, and that's the lens that we try to view our business through, we believe we will be the biggest market share winner over the next 10 years because of the quality of service that we offer and the value offering that we have in place. That's going to require investment. Just because you invest doesn't mean you're going to go win share. And if someone does, then it's probably increasing their cost basis. And that could be a good thing for us as well if our competitors' costs are increasing, requiring them to increase rates, even further and maybe closing some of that price gap that exists between us and others.

不管怎樣，我認為，當我們考慮長期目標時，也就是我們試圖透過這個視角來看待我們的業務時，我們相信，由於我們提供的服務質量，我們將成為未來 10 年內最大的市場份額贏家。以及我們所提供的價值。這將需要投資。僅僅因為你投資並不代表你就能贏得份額。如果有人這樣做，那麼可能會增加他們的成本基礎。如果我們的競爭對手的成本增加，要求他們提高費率，甚至進一步提高，並可能縮小我們與其他公司之間存在的部分價格差距，這對我們來說也可能是一件好事。

So I think that we tried to say on the last quarter call that our approach is going to be more slow and steady, if you will in this environment where underlying demand is -- continues to remain relatively consistent. We've not seen any type of true inflection in the economy at this point and we're prepared for it when it happens. And I think we've seen some really strong performance in the past when we get into those types of strong demand environment.

因此，我認為我們試圖在上個季度的電話會議上表示，如果您願意在這種潛在需求繼續保持相對穩定的環境中，我們的方法將更加緩慢和穩定。目前我們還沒有看到經濟出現任何類型的真正變化，當它發生時我們已經準備好了。我認為，當我們進入這些類型的強勁需求環境時，我們過去已經看到了一些非常強勁的表現。

So we're ready for it from thinking about all elements of capacity. It's more than just service centers. Service centers drive what can be done over the long term, but you got to have people and equipment as well. And we feel good about where we are with all elements of capacity and our ability to respond to growth when it comes to us, and it will. It's just a matter of time before it comes. And so we'll be ready when that time does come.

因此，我們透過考慮容量的所有要素來做好準備。它不僅僅是服務中心。服務中心推動長期工作，但也必須擁有人員和設備。我們對自己的能力和應對成長的能力感到滿意，而且它會的。它的到來只是時間問題。因此，當那個時刻到來時，我們會做好準備。

The next question is from Bascome Majors with Susquehanna.

下一個問題來自薩斯奎哈納巴斯科姆梅傑斯。

You talked earlier about starting to invest again in headcount and get ready for some of the growth that may come next year. Can you give us an update about where you are versus your capacity on facilities, people and equipment now? And any thoughts about where those constraints are showing up first, be it regionally or in functionally?

您之前談到開始再次投資於員工人數，並為明年可能出現的一些成長做好準備。您能否向我們介紹一下您目前的情況以及設施、人員和設備能力的最新情況？對於這些限制首先出現在哪裡，無論是區域性的還是功能性的，有什麼想法嗎？

Yes. We're -- on the service center side, we're at about 25% to 30% excess capacity. We'll necessarily look at those other two pieces of the capacity equation in the same type of way. But our equipment, we're in really good shape with where we are, probably a little bit heavy steel even with the influx of volume that we've seen over the last few months. But like I mentioned earlier, we'll continue to go through and evaluate and optimize that as we look at what our 2024 CapEx plan might be. We've not formulated that at this point, and we'll talk about it on the next earnings call.

是的。在服務中心方面，我們的產能過剩約為 25% 到 30%。我們必須以相同的方式查看容量方程式的其他兩個部分。但我們的設備狀況非常好，即使在過去幾個月我們看到數量大量湧入的情況下，可能還是有點重鋼。但正如我之前提到的，在研究 2024 年資本支出計畫時，我們將繼續仔細研究、評估和優化這一點。目前我們還沒有明確這一點，我們將在下一次財報電話會議上討論它。

But what the fleet size should look like given whatever our baseline forecast for '24 might be. And then we always look at kind of a bull case scenario and a bear case scenario as well to make sure that we've got an operating plan that can meet if we were to see really strong growth or the growth, not necessarily at the levels that our baseline indicated.

但考慮到我們對 24 年的基線預測，機隊規模應該是什麼樣子。然後，我們總是會考慮牛市情景和熊市情景，以確保我們有一個運營計劃，如果我們要看到真正強勁的增長或增長（不一定是在一定水平上），則可以滿足這一要求我們的基線顯示。

On the people side, obviously, we've been able to step up and meet the incremental volumes. Our people are getting more work, which I think makes them happy per se. And we had drivers that we're working on the dock and combo type of roles. So we're able to leverage that, putting those employees right back into a truck. And so overall, I think we're in a really great spot with all elements. But it will require, as we get into next year, we do see some incremental growth from where we are now will require investment in our people.

顯然，在人員方面，我們已經能夠加快步伐並滿足增量。我們的員工得到了更多的工作，我認為這本身就讓他們感到高興。我們有負責碼頭和組合類型角色的司機。因此，我們能夠利用這一點，將這些員工重新安置到卡車上。總的來說，我認為我們在所有方面都處於一個非常好的位置。但這需要，當我們進入明年時，我們確實看到一些增量成長需要對我們的員工進行投資。

And that's why we've restarted some of our truck driving schools, and we are hiring in certain locations as well for new drivers, employees on the platform that are moving the freight on their docks as well. So we will continue to add to the workforce, if you will, as we make our best efforts to match the capacity of our workforce with the shipment levels that we sort of see coming at us, but making sure that they're on board ahead of the curve, so they're properly trained especially on the dock that we make sure that we're maximizing our load factor. We're using our claims for winch and tools to keep that cargo claims ratio where it is at 0.1%, all those things are important. But you can't just throw a person right into an environment where -- growing double digits kind of thing. They're just not going to be as efficient or as effective as we probably otherwise want. So we try to invest ahead of the curve, if you will, for that reason, to make sure that we get appropriate training in place before we really see the growth.

這就是為什麼我們重新啟動了一些卡車駕駛學校，我們也在某些地點招募新司機，平台上也在碼頭上運輸貨物的員工。因此，如果您願意的話，我們將繼續增加勞動力，因為我們將盡最大努力使我們的勞動力能力與我們看到的發貨水平相匹配，但要確保他們提前上船曲線的，所以他們接受了適當的培訓，特別是在碼頭上，我們確保我們最大化我們的負載係數。我們正在利用絞車和工具的索賠來將貨物索賠率保持在 0.1%，所有這些都很重要。但你不能直接把一個人丟到一個成長兩位數的環境。它們只是不會像我們希望的那樣有效率或有效。因此，如果您願意的話，我們會嘗試提前投資，以確保我們在真正看到成長之前獲得適當的培訓。

Next question is from Bruce Chan with Stifel.

下一個問題是由 Bruce Chan 和 Stifel 提出的。

Adam, maybe just want to follow up on some of your comments on the commercial side. You've got a couple of competitors out there that are targeting that field accounts business. I want to ask you if you feel like you have the right mix of field national and 3PL at this point or things are kind of changing post Yellow. And then just quickly on the sales force, any additions that have happened there to maybe fill out the newer parts of the network and keep pushing on that share growth.

Adam，也許只是想跟進您在商業方面的一些評論。有幾個競爭對手正在瞄準現場客戶業務。我想問你，你是否覺得此時此刻你已經擁有了國家隊和 3PL 的正確組合，或者在黃色之後事情發生了某種變化。然後，在銷售團隊中，任何新增人員都可能會填補網路的新部分，並繼續推動份額成長。

Yes, I feel like our -- we've got a great sales team in place that national account team and local field sales that have been working hard over the last year in terms of continuing to build relationships, staying in front of our customers, letting them know that we're here when they need us, and our team work hand in hand with our pricing and costing groups as well. And I think that, that coordination and symmetry that we have there, is evident when you look at our long-term success and our financial results.

是的，我覺得我們的——我們擁有一支出色的銷售團隊，全國客戶團隊和當地現場銷售人員在過去的一年裡一直在努力繼續建立關係，保持在客戶面前，讓他們知道，當他們需要我們時，我們就在這裡，我們的團隊也與我們的定價和成本核算團隊攜手合作。我認為，當你看到我們的長期成功和財務表現時，我們在那裡的協調和對稱性是顯而易見的。

But we -- about 1/3 of our business does come by way of 3PLs. We've actually seen a little bit of improvement there. In the third quarter, we had a little bit of growth with the accounts that are within that 3PL book of business just ever so slightly, but at least it was in the green when the overall book of business, the overall revenue was down 5.5% for the quarter, so that was good to see. That was an area of weakness, in particular in the first quarter, where a few carriers, we're putting some lower transaction type pricing in place. And I think that market firmed up pretty quickly in the end of July. So some of that business is starting to come back to us and hopefully, that can be a continuing trend as well.

但我們大約 1/3 的業務確實是透過 3PL 實現的。我們實際上已經看到了一些改進。第三季度，我們的 3PL 業務帳簿中的帳戶略有增長，但至少在整體業務帳簿、總收入下降 5.5% 時，它是綠色的。對於本季度來說，這是很高興看到的。這是一個弱點，特別是在第一季度，我們對一些營運商實行了一些較低的交易類型定價。我認為市場在七月底很快就堅挺了。因此，其中一些業務開始回到我們身邊，希望這也能成為一個持續的趨勢。

But we've got a great mix of our contract business and continue to grow with our small mom-and-pop accounts as well. And the 3PLs, we see opportunity within all of those categories really and our sales team will continue to leverage that and hopefully be ready for a good growth year in 2024.

但我們的合約業務已經得到了很好的組合，並且我們的小型夫妻店帳戶也在繼續增長。對於 3PL，我們確實在所有這些類別中看到了機會，我們的銷售團隊將繼續利用這一機會，並希望為 2024 年的良好成長做好準備。

The next question is from Stephanie Moore with Jefferies.

下一個問題來自傑弗里斯的史蒂芬妮摩爾。

I'll keep it easy here and cheat and just essentially reask Amit's first question. Given the 70s and change OR you saw in the current quarter and what is immediately still a pretty weak freight environment. And also, I think you called out pretty well on this call, which is to spend your own kind of elevated expenses in 2023. Maybe just how the dynamics over the last couple of months change the timing of achieving that kind of 6 handle OR target just as -- balance the obvious major industry events as well as your own kind of moderated growth and capacity investment strategy?

我會在這裡保持簡單並作弊，只是本質上重新問阿米特的第一個問題。考慮到 70 年代的變化，或您在本季看到的變化，貨運環境仍然相當疲軟。而且，我認為您在這次電話會議上提出了很好的要求，即在 2023 年花費您自己增加的費用。也許過去幾個月的動態如何改變了實現這種 6 個處理或目標的時間就像是——平衡明顯的重大產業事件以及您自己的溫和成長和產能投資策略？

Sure. It's -- when we laid out the goal to have a sub-70 annual operating ratio, we didn't put a time frame per se on that because we felt like we might go through -- and a macro environment that's a little bit weaker, and we didn't want to be beholden to some artificial time line and do things that were more short-term focused versus long term.

當然。當我們制定年營運比率低於 70 的目標時，我們本身並沒有設定時間框架，因為我們覺得我們可能會經歷——而且宏觀環境有點疲軟，我們不想受制於某些人為的時間線，也不想做那些更注重短期而不是長期的事情。

And I think when you look at this year, in particular, to have a capital expenditure plan of $720 million in an environment where at one point, we were -- our tonnage was down double digits shows the focus that we try to take on looking out in the long term and being ready for future growth. And that comes at a cost, and we've seen that increase in the operating ratio this year as a result. And again, the depreciation is probably the biggest drag that we have right now, but that's something that when you look at it on the other hand, when volumes come back, that's where we get leverage.

我認為，特別是今年，在我們的噸位下降了兩位數的環境下制定了 7.2 億美元的資本支出計劃，這表明我們試圖將重點放在尋找從長遠來看，並為未來的成長做好準備。這是有代價的，我們已經看到今年營運比率的增加。再說一遍，貶值可能是我們目前面臨的最大阻力，但從另一方面來看，當銷售回升時，這就是我們獲得槓桿的地方。

And I've been pleased with the cost performance on the direct cost side. In the third quarter, our direct costs were 51% to 51.5% of overall revenue while our overhead came in at about 19.5% of revenue, and that compares to last year, our overhead was 16.5% to 17%, so deterioration there. But once we get back to the volume environment, we should be able to leverage that completely and get right back to improving our operating ratio, so we're already closed. We've done a couple of quarters with the second and third quarters of last year with 69-something operating ratio.

我對直接成本方面的性價比感到滿意。第三季度，我們的直接成本佔總收入的 51% 至 51.5%，而我們的管理費用約為收入的 19.5%，與去年相比，我們的管理費用為 16.5% 至 17%，因此情況惡化。但一旦我們回到銷售環境，我們應該能夠完全利用這一點，並立即提高我們的營運比率，所以我們已經關閉了。去年第二季和第三季度，我們有幾季的營運比率約為 69 左右。

And typically, when we look back through prior years, when we've gone through an environment where volumes have been down, revenue was down, we've lost a little bit on the operating ratio because of that leverage opportunity, we've been able to recover any OR loss in the subsequent year when we've had revenue recovery. And I think that's certainly what we're focused on and believe can happen. So we'll see where that gets us by the time we get to the end of 2024, but we will continue to perform on the direct cost side and continue to look for areas of opportunity as we can drive efficiency within our operations.

通常，當我們回顧前幾年時，當我們經歷了銷量下降、收入下降的環境時，由於槓桿機會，我們的營運比率有所損失，我們一直在當我們收入恢復時，能夠在下一年彌補任何或損失。我認為這肯定是我們所關注並相信能夠發生的事情。因此，到 2024 年底，我們將看到這將為我們帶來什麼，但我們將繼續在直接成本方面發揮作用，並繼續尋找機會領域，因為我們可以提高營運效率。

But trying to get some leverage there on the overhead side, potentially not having to invest as much in 2024, and if we can get some revenue growth going along with that, could potentially produce a beautiful thing when you start looking at that OR.

但是，試圖在管理費用方面獲得一些槓桿作用，可能不必在 2024 年進行那麼多投資，如果我們能夠隨之獲得一些收入增長，那麼當您開始考慮 OR 時，可能會產生美好的結果。

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Marty Freeman for any closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉回給馬蒂·弗里曼發表閉幕詞。

Thank you all today for your participation. We appreciate your questions, and please feel free to give us a call later if you have anything further. Hope you all have a great day.

感謝大家今天的參與。我們感謝您的提問，如果您有任何疑問，請稍後致電我們。希望大家有個愉快的一天。

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連線。