Saia, Inc.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. My name is Abby and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the SIA Incorporated third quarter 2024 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 that time, simply press the star key followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star 1 a second time. Thank you, and I would now like to turn the conference over to Matthew Boutte, SIA's Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. You may begin.

Thank you, Abby. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to SIA's third quarter 2024 conference call. With me for today's call is SIA's President and Chief Executive Officer, Fritz Holstreich. Before we begin, you should know that during this call we may make some 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 will now turn the call over to Fritz for some opening comments.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us to discuss Tsai's third quarter results. While the underlying macro trends remain tepid in our view, our year-over-year results in the third quarter continue to reflect the growth experience since last summer. In the quarter, we averaged approximately 37,200 shipments per day compared to approximately 34,300 per day last year, or an increase of 8.5%. Our third quarter revenue of $842 million increased from last year's third quarter by 8.6% and is a record for any third quarter in our company's history. Yield or revenue per hundredweight, excluding fuel surcharge, increased 1.7%, reflecting a constructive pricing backdrop and the impact of changes in our mix of business. Revenue per shipment, excluding fuel surcharge, increased 0.9% despite a headwind from weight per shipment, which was down 0.8% in the quarter and length of haul which decreased modestly. Our third quarter operating ratio of 85.1% deteriorated 170 basis points compared to our operating ratio of 83.4% posted in the third quarter last year. While weight per shipment stabilized into the third quarter, we continue to see some mixed headwinds from the softer industrial backdrop and the growth in retail business since last year's industry disruption. We remain intently focused on mix management and pricing initiatives, as seen in our contractual renewals, which remain strong at 7.9%. During the quarter, we opened 11 new terminals and relocated one other, continue to execute our long-term strategy of improving our service and value proposition to the customer. Eleven new terminals in the quarter is a record for any quarter in company history, and I'm proud of the execution from our team. Each new opening represents its own unique challenges, especially those in new geographies. Most of the terminals opened in the quarter were in the Great Plains, a new geography for SIA, and these locations enable us to extend our addressable market and provide direct service to customers in this area of the country. With these recent terminal openings, we're now able to provide direct service to all the contiguous 48 states, which significantly enhances our value proposition to our customers and confirms our position as a leading national LTL carrier. As with every new opening, these new terminals require investments in people, equipment, and technology, while entering a completely new geography requires additional investments in the customer experience. We are encouraged by early customer acceptance, and we're excited to expand our addressable market to better serve both new and existing customers. We are very pleased with the progress of our new terminal openings, especially those that opened in the second quarter. During the third quarter, these terminals continue to grow and become more efficient while still having been open for less than six months. This group of terminals improved their operating ratio by more than 10 points sequentially, further supporting the long-term strategy of increasing our addressable market and investing in the customer experience. While these terminals are not at a company market share or operating margin, they are profitable. Each terminal is a long-term investment that enables us to provide a solution to a customer in each market. The terminals open in the Great Plains in the third quarter allow us to directly service a new geography, and we're proud to bring the SCIA name to new and existing customers in these communities. We remain committed to our training requirements for our team members in both new and existing markets, which is critical to building a SCIA culture and enhancing the customer experience. Our teams are committed to accomplishing our growth strategy with an eye on always putting the customer first. Our customer first initiatives have been the cornerstone of our success over our 100-year journey, and we've seen our customer focus on display throughout each new terminal opening in the quarter. I'll now turn the call over to Matt for more details from our third quarter results.