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Operator
Good afternoon. My name is Kelsey, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the YRCW third quarter earnings call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. (Operator Instructions)
Thank you. Ms. Stephanie Fisher, you may begin your conference.
Stephanie Fisher - VP and Controller
Thank you. Good afternoon. Thank you for joining us for the YRC Worldwide third quarter 2015 earnings call. James Welch, Chief Executive Officer of YRC Worldwide, Jamie Pierson, CFO of YRC Worldwide, and Darren Hawkins, President of YRC Freight, will provide comments this afternoon. James, Jamie, and Darren will be available to answer questions following our comments.
Now for our disclaimers. During this call, we may make some forward-looking statements within the meaning of Federal Securities laws. These forward-looking statements and all other statements that might be made on this call which are not historical facts are subject to uncertainty and a number of risks, and thus, actual results may differ materially.
This includes statements regarding the Company's expectations, assumptions of future events, and intentions on strategies regarding the future. The format of this call does not allow us to fully discuss all of these risk factors. For a full discussion of the risk factors that could cause the results to differ, please refer to this afternoon's earnings release and our most recent SEC filings, including our Forms 10-K and 10-Q.
Additionally, please see today's release for a reconciliation of net income and loss to adjusted EBITDA on a consolidated basis and operating income and loss to adjusted EBITDA on a segment basis. During this call, we may refer to our non-GAAP measure of adjusted EBITDA simply as EBITDA.
I'll now turn the call over to James to provide comments on our third quarter earnings.
James Welch - CEO
Thank you, Stephanie, and good afternoon, everyone. We are pleased to be reporting and discussing our results with you today because on a sequential basis our third quarter results are similar to our previous second quarter results. On a consolidated basis, YRCW reported a 96.2 OR which represents an improvement of 180 basis points versus the 98 OR reported in the third quarter of 2014.
YRC Freight improved their OR by 110 basis points to 97.9, and the regional carriers turned in a 92.6 OR, an improvement of 230 basis points.
For the third quarter, adjusted EBITDA at YRCW increased $17.5 million, or 21%, to $99 million, our best third quarter since 2008. Our trailing 12-month EBITDA has improved $118 million from $226 million in the third quarter of 2014 to $344 million in 2015, the highest in over seven years.
I'll number one priority has been to improve freight mix and revenue per shipment, and this strategy has clearly paid off with much better operating results for YRC Freight, Holland, Reddaway, and New Penn, and even though the economy has been more or less stagnant, we have continued to secure the right kind of price adjustments with our customers who value the different service offerings that our four operating companies provide.
While tonnage trends are down at both operating segments, we are pleased with the work that we have done to improve our yield performance. I know it has been a hot topic the last few days, but from our perspective, the LTL pricing environment remains steady throughout the third quarter, and that trend has continued in October and we will implement a 4.9% GRI effective November 2.
For YRC Freight, their progress has been steady and consistent over the last five quarters. As Darren will discuss, we are confident in their operations, service, and sell strategies, and they are the right ones that should keep the momentum at the Company moving forward. YRC Freight's continued improvement is a key to our future success, and we know that there are still opportunities we should capitalize on by improving operating fundamentals.
The excellent results generated by Holland, Reddaway, and New Penn prove that they can compete very effectively in the marketplace. These three companies continue to provide market-leading service in the respective networks, along with generating strong profitability. I'm very pleased with the regional carrier results and the leadership teams at each operating company, and they remain focused on their respective strategies to position their companies to continue producing these types of results.
We have continued to reinvest in our business at the highest level in terms of capital and capital equivalent dollars in seven years. We have been able to invest in new equipment and by the end of this December, we anticipate taking delivery of approximately 950 tractors and 1,700 new trailers. We have invested in additional dimensioners, new and better technology, facilities, and most importantly, our people. And we are going to be making a sizable capital investment in safety throughout this quarter and the first quarter of 2016 by installing endcap safety technology in approximately 14,000 tractors. These investments show that our Company is on solid financial ground and making important decisions that should set us up for additional operating improvement as we move forward.
Lastly, I want to recognize and appreciate the 20,000 employees at YRC Freight and the 12,000 employees at the regional carriers for their efforts. Our employees are working safer and are actively participating in our goal to be the safest carrier on the road. I also sincerely thank them for all that they do on a daily basis to effectively serve our valuable customers.
With that, I'll turn the call over to Jamie for discussions about our financial results.
Jamie Pierson - CFO
Thanks, James, and good afternoon, everyone. For the third quarter of 2015, we reported revenue of $1.25 billion, down slightly from the $1.32 billion reported in 3Q 2014 largely due to the decline of fuel surcharge revenue and tonnage offset by improved pricing at both of our segments. In terms of consolidated operating income, it increased $21 million from approximately $27 million in 3Q 2014 to $48 million. As for adjusted EBITDA, it increased $18 million to end the quarter at $99 million and an 8% margin.
For the year-over-year third quarter stats, YRC Freight's tonnage per day was down 6.2%, which was comprised of a 5.8% decrease in July, 6.9% in August, and 6% in September. On the contrary, revenue per shipment including fuel surcharge was up by 0.7% and revenue per hundredweight including fuel surcharge was down slightly by 0.4% while weight per shipment was up by 1.2%. Excluding fuel surcharge, revenue per shipment was up by 7%, and revenue per hundredweight was up by 5.8%.
Consistent with YRC Freight, the regional carriers also experienced a decline in tonnage per day for the third quarter with a total decrease of 3.5%, which was comprised of a 4.9% decrease in July, 3.6% in August, and 2.3% in September. Revenue per shipment including fuel surcharge was down slightly by 0.7%, which included an increase in the weight per shipment of 0.9% and a decrease in revenue per hundredweight including fuel surcharge of 1.5%. Again, excluding fuel surcharge, revenue per shipment was up by 5% and revenue per hundredweight was up by 4.1%.
Turning to the results, for the third quarter of 2015, YRC Freight nearly doubled its operating income from approximately $9 million in 3Q 2014 to $17 million and reported adjusted EBITDA of $45 million, a $7 million increase over the third quarter of last year. The improvement and profitability is primarily due to the continued disciplined pricing strategy offset by tonnage and fuel surcharge decreases and increased vehicle leasing as we continue to refresh the fleet.
On a year-over-year basis, our regional segment reported an operating income increase of 38% to approximately $34 million and on an adjusted EBITDA basis reported a 22% increase to $53 million. The increase is largely driven by yield growth and several small operating improvements offset by tonnage and fuel surcharge decreases and incremental operating lease expense.
In terms of our liquidity, our cash and cash equivalents and manage accessibility under our ABL facility at September 30, 2015 was up approximately $32 million to $245 million for this same period last year.
As usual, I'd like to leave you with a few parting takeaways. First, during the quarter, in honoring our commitment to reinvest back into the business, we spent approximately $29 million on CapEx. And excluding the sleeper units we normally lease, we entered into offering leases for an additional $26 million, a capital value equivalent, for a total investment of $55 million, almost double the total investment of $28 million this time last year.
Second, as a result of these investments and improved pricing and operating performance, we have been able to drive down our leverage ratio from 4.94 times just 12 months ago to 3.15 times this quarter. Personally speaking, I am proud of that accomplishment as S&P recently recognized the continued delevering of our capital structure on a funded debt [to] EBITDA basis and continued derisking of the balance sheet with a ratings upgrade. As most of you know, this is no small feat and one that recognizes the operational and financial improvements we have made to date.
Finally, as we start to [anniversary] the pricing increases that started in the second quarter of last year, we expect to start facing tougher yields and revenue per shipment costs going forward. This is especially true on an [ex-fuel] basis. Obviously, including fuel, we, along with everybody else in the space, are already facing those year-over-year headwinds, but as you can tell from our results, we are holding our own on that front.
Additionally, and I know we have discussed a couple of these points before, I would like to remind everyone that we continue to refresh our fleet. We anticipate incurring the increased lease expense that goes along with it. This incremental lease expense will pressure adjusted EBITDA margins going forward, and along with several other companies in the space, we also anticipate having to contend with higher healthcare, recruiting, and training expenses as we compete for an incredibly scarce resource in the form of qualified CDL drivers.
Going forward, it is still our intent to continue reinvesting the incremental EBITDA and free cash flow back into the business to increase the value of this Company and drive shareholder return.
At this point, I'll turn the call back over to Darren to discuss YRC Freight's results.
Darren Hawkins - President
Thanks, Jamie, and good afternoon, everyone. In the third quarter, our focus on people, pricing, and operational processes drove continued positive results for YRC Freight. In Q3, the team effort and performance of all 20,000 YRC Freight employees continued the trend of solid EBITDA results. The year-over-year improvement string is now at 5 straight quarters and 14 straight months with trailing 12-month EBITDA improving more than $100 million. We are not yet satisfied with this financial performance, but we are certainly encouraged by the improvements we have achieved thus far.
On the technology front, we now have actual dimensions on over 35% of our shipments largely due to the deployment of our 50 dimensioners. This change along with other technology improvements and our pricing processes along with providing market competitive service all contributed to our yield improvement.
Our contractually negotiated increases averaged 5% to 6% in the third quarter of 2015, and we still see pricing as stable in October. New tractor and trailer onboarding continues and should bring with it improvements in safety, maintenance costs, and fuel efficiency. Cube utilization in our over-the-road network should benefit from [a new logistics post trailers]. Positive safety trends continued in Q3 with year-over-year improvement in our lost time injury rate and a reduction in accidents.
YRC Freight has 400 peer safety trainers that are driving this performance through awareness, communication, and intervention. YRC Freight is investing in the efficiency of our sales force by utilizing deployment model technology that allows us to segment our territories based on market potential. This investment along with our customer relationship management software being fully implemented has us well-suited to continue the right freight, right price strategy with appropriate balance between price, volume, and network optimization.
YRC Freight employees have the right attitude about being safe, being reliable, and making a difference for themselves, our customers, and our communities. I appreciate all their actions that continue to move us in the right direction.
With those comments, we are ready to take your questions.
Operator
(Operator Instructions) David Ross, Stifel.
David Ross - Analyst
Yes. Good afternoon, everyone.
James Welch - CEO
Hey, Dave. How are you doing, buddy?
David Ross - Analyst
Doing great. Doing great. Glad to see things are heading in the right direction and pricing's remaining firm in the marketplace. Just a couple questions on the cost side. Labor increases, are you -- I guess could you remind me of what we're set up for going into 2016 in terms of contractual increases on the wage and benefit side?
Jamie Pierson - CFO
Yes, so on the wage basis, it's $0.34 per straight time hour.
David Ross - Analyst
And is that like a 3% increase roughly or --
Jamie Pierson - CFO
It's a little less than 2.
David Ross - Analyst
Okay. And are there benefit increases that go along with that to kind of take the SWV line up?
Jamie Pierson - CFO
There is on the healthcare side, but there's a color on that date so it's not a set number. It gets up to what some of the [funds] can come back to us with. But I'll tell you that I think we're experiencing probably in that 4% to 7% range increase on healthcare and on the [pension] side, there's no increase there. That sticks at $1.75 per straight time hour.
David Ross - Analyst
Okay. And then others have talked about healthcare being an issue and spiking up recently. Is there anything you can do to kind of minimize those healthcare costs, whether it's kind of increase copay or doing something different with the plan?
Jamie Pierson - CFO
There's probably two different things, Dave. We've got the unionized side of the house and then the non-unionized side which we basically self-insure. I think we're doing a very good job on what we can control. On the unionized side, it's less in our control [in] the fact that there are some contractual minimums in there. But I'll tell you, by and large that's one of our (inaudible) factors when it comes to recruiting drivers. So all in the balance, that's not [initially] a bad thing.
David Ross - Analyst
Okay. And then the timing of that, is that in the spring still? Like an April increase for the -- just for the straight time hour jump?
Jamie Pierson - CFO
H&W's in August and wages is in April. That's right.
David Ross - Analyst
Okay. And then you mentioned recruiting retention as a cost that continues to be pressured because [of] the driver environment. We've always viewed YRC as having one of the more stable driver forces or just general workforces. And then now that tonnage is down, I guess why do you see this recruiting retention being pressured so much?
James Welch - CEO
Hey, Dave, this is James. And you're right. We've been fortunate over the years to have very low turnover rates, and we still do, but as you'll recall when we put Roadway and Yellow together, we have an aging workforce. And so we'll see continued retirements that will leak out of that company as these employees get older. So, that will cause a lot of our challenges and efforts as we move forward. But, we've taken some really good steps to mitigate those issues, and we feel like we're in good shape.
David Ross - Analyst
And then last question is just a housekeeping one on the length of haul at YRC Freight. Where did that fall versus a year ago?
Darren Hawkins - President
David, that's at 1306 for third quarter 2015. That's up by 2.4% or 30 miles.
David Ross - Analyst
Excellent. Thanks, Darren.
Darren Hawkins - President
And go [Rolls].
Operator
Thom Albrecht, BB&T.
Thom Albrecht - Analyst
Hey, guys. Congratulations on a great quarter.
James Welch - CEO
Thanks, Thom.
Jamie Pierson - CFO
Thanks, Thom.
Thom Albrecht - Analyst
I appreciate all the color. Jamie, can you give us a little insight into October's tons per day at Freight and regional?
Jamie Pierson - CFO
You know, I would say it's a continuation to trend that we've experienced in the third quarter and if anything, I'd say marginally better but not significantly.
James Welch - CEO
That's right.
Darren Hawkins - President
Absolutely. Tonnage and pricing are similar to Q3 so far in October, and (inaudible) as well.
James Welch - CEO
That's the same at the regionals, too. In fact, it's been proved a little bit at the regionals.
Thom Albrecht - Analyst
Do you have a sense when you're tonnage figures may turn positive?
James Welch - CEO
Yes, we're not going to speculate on that because we can't predict what the economy's going to do, the winter weather and the impact that has on things, but just know that we're working hard to be sure that we're starting to balance the yield equation and our need to get the right freight on at the right price.
Thom Albrecht - Analyst
Okay. And I appreciate the transparency with the workers' comp. How about BIPD? Was that a little bit of a help or a little bit of a hindrance to the bottom line?
Jamie Pierson - CFO
Sideways. It's -- going back to what I said, I think now for the last couple of quarters we're comping BIPD together plus or minus $5 million and we are squarely right in the middle of that range.
Thom Albrecht - Analyst
Okay. And then, Darren, what sort of load factor increase were you able to see at Freight?
Darren Hawkins - President
Thom, we don't go into detail on the load factor, but the trailers we've invested in are doing exactly what we expected.
Thom Albrecht - Analyst
I'm trying to remember, I think, though, at one point conceptually you thought you could drive a 6% or more increase in load factor. Is that bad memory on my part? Has that played out? I mean, even if you don't want to get the exact number.
Darren Hawkins - President
Thom, I don't recall making an exact percentage on that. It's -- with our service cycle and the way it's set up, load factor is certainly an advantage at our carrier. So, from that aspect, YRC Freight's in a great position for load factor.
James Welch - CEO
Now, Thom, this is James. I'll just add that we're very pleased with what they're doing at YRC Freight with load average.
Thom Albrecht - Analyst
Okay. Good, and then I guess last question would be operationally, let's set aside the economy because clearly we've been through either the beginning of a recession or another one of these Obama soft patches, and what are the initiatives, I guess Darren or whoever, that we -- the three or four things that we need to continue to pay the most attention to that can happen regardless of what's going on with the economy.
Darren Hawkins - President
Thom, what I like about the position YRC Freight is in, as you know, our tonnage decline started a little earlier than the industry's did. So, the cost control side of the house and certainly driving the efficiencies has been a focus for us all year. So, we have done a good job in adjusting our labor to match the tonnage that's moving through the system and certainly our focus on the service cycle and us providing market competitive service is crucial. We make those investments, but we're also able to create that efficiency certainly through load average and the progress we're seeing in the areas of bringing on new equipment that impacts maintenance, safety, fuel. All those items are areas that we would anticipate moving in the right direction.
Thom Albrecht - Analyst
And, Darren, the decline in the purchase transportation at the consolidated level, I don't know what went on between the two companies, but is that -- that $8 million, is that mostly fuel? I mean, do you have a figure -- PT miles as a percentage of your line haul at either company? Is it beginning to trend down?
Darren Hawkins - President
Yes. That would be fuel and miles, and Thom, I'll also make the comment we all know how important drivers are for 2016 regardless of what the economy does. And we're going to protect our drivers all through the winter months.
Thom Albrecht - Analyst
Okay. All right. I'll jump back in the queue. Thank you.
James Welch - CEO
Thanks, Thom.
Operator
Art Hatfield, Raymond James.
Art Hatfield - Analyst
Hey. Good afternoon, everybody. Hey, great quarter. Thanks for taking my questions. I must've not been paying attention or maybe you didn't give it but, Jamie, did you give tonnage within freight and regional by month in the quarter?
Jamie Pierson - CFO
I sure did.
Art Hatfield - Analyst
Can you get it to me again? I apologize.
Jamie Pierson - CFO
That's quite all right. Let me get the numbers back in front of me. So at YRC Freight, tonnage was down for the quarter by 6.2% in total. As you go through the quarter, that was a 5.8% decrease in July, 6.9% in August, and 6% in September. Those exact same numbers for the regionals was at 3.5% decrease for the entire quarter, and it was 4.9% decrease in July, 3.6% in August, and 2.3% in September.
Art Hatfield - Analyst
Thanks. Touching on that a little bit, it looks like your -- and I don't -- I can't remember what your comps were in each of the months, but it appears that your September was a little bit better than what we've heard from some of your peers. Do you think or do you get a sense that as you have been able to reinvest in the business you stabilize to kind of operate -- your operating situation, improved your service a little bit, that you're back in the market taking a little bit of market share?
James Welch - CEO
Hey, Art, this is James. I wouldn't say that we're actively and aggressively trying to take market share. What we're trying to do is make sure that the freight that we are handling is paying its way and then we're trying to attract freight that obviously meets the characteristics of what we want to do moving forward. And it's interesting to note that while some of our competition is reporting weight per shipment decreasing, YRC Freight's weight per shipment was up 1.2% and the regionals was up 1% during the quarter. So, we're trying to be selective about what we're handling and we're trying to service the heck out of it and we're giving just absolutely great service at the regional companies and I'm just really, really pleased and [buoyed] by what we have been able to accomplish at YRC Freight this year. They're giving much better service, very competitive, so we like being in a position to be able to be more aggressive with selling the value in the marketplace and being confident about doing it.
Art Hatfield - Analyst
Great. Thanks for that color. Just looking at -- thinking about yield as we go forward, Jamie, you had made some comments, too, on when you started to cycle some of the pricing actions that you guys are taking, but if I think about fuel, the fuel remains flat from here just as a kind of thought process. When do you start to cycle fuel being a headwind against yield?
Jamie Pierson - CFO
Well, it's been a headwind. I think where you actually start getting [into easier comps] is in the back half of the third quarter, which is going in -- really, I mean, the last couple of months of this quarter and really into the fourth and first quarters of this and next year. It really -- if you look at the price per gallon of diesel, you take a couple of steps down, it really went down in November, December of last year and took a massive step down in January until it started to level out.
Art Hatfield - Analyst
Right, so it still remains a headwind for the next couple months and then does it ease up or does it ease up in fourth quarter? Is that what you're saying?
Jamie Pierson - CFO
I would say the first normal quarter would probably be -- a clean quarter would be 2Q 2016. I still think there's going to be a step down, at least in the first half of 1Q 2016.
Art Hatfield - Analyst
Okay. And then can you just clarify your comments you had made on the yield side in regard to [price actions]? I think -- did you say that you'd started this second quarter of last year or second quarter of this year?
James Welch - CEO
We started that the second quarter of 2014 at all four companies.
Art Hatfield - Analyst
So -- and did it -- when did it really start to ramp up and show up in your yield numbers? Is it --
James Welch - CEO
Probably about August.
Art Hatfield - Analyst
August? Okay. So we're starting to cycle through that so that becomes a little bit more of a headwind in 2016?
James Welch - CEO
Could be, but the results that we continue to turn in with our customer-specific negotiated increases are very encouraging and we continue to take that as a priority moving forward, so we'll have to see how we move forward here. But it's certainly not our intent to back off of getting the right kind of price in the marketplace.
Art Hatfield - Analyst
Did you mention on this call -- again, I apologize if you did and I missed it, but I actually am listening, by the way.
Jamie Pierson - CFO
You could've fooled us.
Art Hatfield - Analyst
Did you mention what you were getting recently on contract renewals?
James Welch - CEO
We've been getting between five and six.
Art Hatfield - Analyst
Okay. Okay. Thanks. I'll try -- I'll get off and listen harder going forward.
Unidentified Participant
Thanks, Art.
Operator
Scott Group, Wolfe Research.
Scott Group - Analyst
Hey, thanks. Afternoon, guys.
James Welch - CEO
Hi, Scott.
Scott Group - Analyst
Quick question. I think you said that you did a 4.9% GRI at Freight on November 1 or 2. What was the GRI for regional?
Darren Hawkins - President
It's 4.9 across all four operating companies.
Scott Group - Analyst
Okay. Perfect. Great. On this pricing discussion, so we've had two guys earlier this week talk about kind of chinks in the armor and now we've had two guys today say we're not seeing any signs of it. What do you make of this, James, and the discrepancy of what we're hearing and -- because I'm not sure what to think of it.
James Welch - CEO
Yes, if you recall, Scott, I made a comment during the last quarterly conference call that you see isolated instances where there's some pricing that makes you scratch your head and then we were at your meeting in Philadelphia a couple weeks ago, you asked me kind of some of the same types of questions and I said, again, I think overall it's rational, but I think it was one of our friendly competitors that said sometimes you see somebody doing something stupid in the marketplace, and we've seen some of that in isolated spots on some bid packages that are -- that you don't have a specific lane pricing on, but overall I think the industry realizes that it has to be in a position to continue recapitalizing and investing in the business, whether it's equipment or technology or people. So I'm like you. I'm scratching my head a little bit about why in the world anybody would want to be doing predatory pricing or overreaching pricing in the environment that we're in, but all in all we still feel like it's pretty stable.
Scott Group - Analyst
Yes, I know. I think we all agree it doesn't make sense, but doesn't mean that it's not happening. Your point about some isolated instances, is that any different than you would of said six months ago or a year ago or has -- where you had isolated instances that time, too?
James Welch - CEO
I think it's pretty much still the same thing. I think you've seen maybe a little bit more activity of some 3PLs or some carriers maybe looking for some different types of freight balances or balances in different freight lanes, but I could be dead wrong here in 60 or 90 days. Who knows, but from where I sit today, it's still pretty much like it was in the third quarter or in the second quarter, excuse me.
Scott Group - Analyst
Okay. Yes, yes, yes. And just last question, kind of along those lines, so the sequential tonnage trends at regional getting better each month looks good. If I look at the yields, the reported revenue per hundredweight at regional, it got a little bit worse second quarter to third quarter. Is that just mix of the tonnage that's coming back or is there something else going on there?
James Welch - CEO
One of the regional companies weight per shipment jumped up and that drove some of it and then some issues with what has happened in the Midwest part of the country with some manufacturing slowdowns. But, I don't think it's anything that we're losing sleep over.
Jamie Pierson - CFO
Going back to what James said earlier, if you go back to the third quarter of 2014, there was a 4% year-over-year increase there, so we're starting to get into a little bit of more difficult comps and we'll actually experience that, I think, for the next couple of quarters as well, Scott.
Scott Group - Analyst
Okay. That makes sense. All right. Thank you, guys.
James Welch - CEO
Thanks, Scott.
Operator
Rob Salmon, Deutsche Bank.
Rob Salmon - Analyst
Hey. Good evening, guys.
James Welch - CEO
Hi, Rob.
Rob Salmon - Analyst
With regard to the yield update that you had provided with the contractual renewals, in October are you still seeing that kind of 5% to 6% increase that you had indicated you were seeing in Q3?
James Welch - CEO
So far. Yes, between 5% to 5.5%, 6% in some situations, but it's still holding pretty strong.
Rob Salmon - Analyst
And, Jamie, your comments about just kind of the comps getting tougher as we look out for yield, if we parsed out the benefit you're getting from some upgrade with regard to historical pricing, should I think about more of a contractual normalized increase in kind of the 3% to 4% range or should I still be thinking something in the 4% to 5% range here?
Jamie Pierson - CFO
As far as YRC Freight is concerned, I anticipate that remaining stable. There's nothing that's showing me that we won't be able to accomplish that based on what we've done throughout the year. So, certainly tonnage comps improve over time, but with our focus and also the technology we built around that and with our dimensioners allowing us to understand exactly how to price a square of space on our trailers, I still have a level of confidence at YRC Freight.
Rob Salmon - Analyst
That makes a lot of sense. I guess continuing at YRC, you guys are doing a great job on the pricing side of things. If I assume that that offsets cost inflation, in 2016, if we're seeing tonnage declines, is it still possible to expand margins through operational enhancements or does that become a bit more challenging as the network stands today?
Darren Hawkins - President
Rob, we have tremendous opportunity in those areas to continue to improve and that was part of the comments I made opening up is driven right at that piece is we have tremendous opportunity moving forward in those areas.
James Welch - CEO
Rob, this is James. Also, even at the regionals and at Freight, I mean, we're investing in opportunities on the P&D side to get us more efficiency from a technology standpoint. We're looking at new and enhanced technology on the line haul side. The investments that we've made in our pricing models have certainly helped us to make better pricing decisions. The endcap safety technology we know is going to help us improve our safety, so as Jamie has said for a while, we still think there's legs left in this turnaround that we've been working on for a pretty good while. But there's opportunities for us to continue to improve. No doubt.
Rob Salmon - Analyst
No, it's great to hear. I mean, to see the type of improvements drop into the bottom line despite the declines in tonnage, I think speaks to that. So, hopefully looking forward we see a little bit more of tailwind from tonnage and kind of the comps getting less bad, if you will, continue. So --
James Welch - CEO
You know, the interesting thing would be if we had a repeat of what happened in 2014 with -- as the -- if the energy sector does come back or as manufacturing improves or as exports improve depending on what happens with the dollar or what have you. If the inventory levels get worked down and things start moving again, we could -- entirely possible -- be in a situation similar to what we had in 2014 and we think we could really capitalize on that opportunity if it did happen and really do well.
Rob Salmon - Analyst
Makes a lot of sense. I'll kind of hop back in the queue here.
Operator
You have no further questions at this time.
Jamie Pierson - CFO
Yes, Kelsey, I guess I'll -- this is Jamie. I'll make the closing comments and then we'll get everyone back to their day and let Art surf the internet some more. Kidding of course, Art. I just wanted to thank everyone for sticking with us today. I know it's been a long season. A bunch of conflicting noise and information coming out of everyone. But, before we let you go, I'd like to introduce you to Tony [Triano] who's our new Vice President of Investor Relations.
Tony actually is going to join us with over a decade in the investor relations and capital markets experience. Going forward, we'll put Tony's information out there. Reach out to him as your principal contact, and try not to be too hard on him. At the same time, I sincerely want to thank Stephanie for all of her hard work in (inaudible) these last few years. Certainly, stepped up, grabbed (inaudible), stood a post when we needed her, and obviously, she's not going anywhere and will remain our Corporate Controller and hopefully get some of her life back as we add Tony to the team.
So, please feel free to welcome Tony to the team. Thank Stephanie for all of her hard work and thanks, everyone, and look forward to chatting soon.
Operator, turn the call back over to you.
Operator
Okay. Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.