Saia, Inc.

Thank you for standing by. My name is Eric and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Q4 2023 SIA Incorporated Earnings Conference 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. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star one again. Thank you. I would now like to turn the call over to Doug Cole, SIA's Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to SIA's fourth quarter 2023 conference call. With me for today's call is SIA's President and Chief Executive Officer Fritz Holzgrave. Before we begin, you should know that during the call, we may make certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements and all other statements that might be made on this call that are not historical facts are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially. We refer you to our press release and our SEC filings for more information on the exact risk factors that could cause actual results to differ. I'll now turn the call over to Fritz for some opening comments.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us to discuss SIA's fourth quarter and full-year results. I must start my comments today with a word of thanks to the entire SIA team for the dedicated efforts as we work through volatile business trends in 2023. We start our 100th anniversary year with an engaged team that delivered a record number of shipments in 2023, just shy of $8 million in total for the year, and in turn took 2023 revenue of $2.9 billion, was also a record for our company. 2023 was really a tale of two halves. Both shipments and tonnage per workday were down year over year for the first six months of the year, continuing a trend which began in the second half of 2022 as the industrial economy slowed. Turning the calendar to the month of July, our industry experienced a generational type of moment as a large national competitor began limiting service and ultimately ceased operations. At SIA, we saw volumes increase by as much as 10% to 20% on a given day from trends just a month earlier. Our contingency planning in advance of this change put us in a position to handle the increased volumes almost seamlessly while still maintaining excellent service for our customers. In the months that followed that initial surge in business, we increased our staffing levels by adding nearly 1,500 dedicated employees in the second half of the year, 90% of which were drivers, dock workers, and frontline leadership to support growth. We have focused our team on taking care of the customer as we absorb all the growth in the second half. We have continued the painstaking process of investing in our network to maintain our service while also optimizing how we provide the service with our expanding line haul and driving teams. We have plans to open 15 to 20 new terminals in 2024. Our teams are committed to accomplishing this with an eye on always putting the customer first. Those customer-first initiatives have been the cornerstone of our success over the last several years, and included in that is our desire to have more locations through which to serve new and existing customers. In Q4, Mascio released its latest surveys results. The results highlight a couple of significant achievements for SIA. First, the scores highlight our continued improvement and positive feedback from our customers who are recognizing SIA's ongoing investment and service. Second, it's becoming increasingly evident that customers are viewing us as a leading national LTL provider, reflecting not only our investments in service, but the expanding footprint. It is critical to note there have been no drop-off in perceived levels of service. Importantly, we've added nearly 20 new facilities in the last two years. Customers are recognizing our ability to not only improve service, but to replicate that improved service in new locations. So today, what we'll We'll give a recap of 2023 results and provide an update on our plans for 2024. I will now turn it over to Doug for a review of fourth quarter results and full 2024 financial highlights.