http://seekingalpha.com/article/401...g23:d861d7e473c34d146f8b447094a3b3c9&uprof=51
Darren Hawkins
Thanks Jamie. And good afternoon, everyone. YRC Freight delivered Q3 2016 adjusted EBITDA results that were in line with Q3 2015 as we continue to work through the sluggish economic environment. While shipments were down for the quarter, our weight per shipments was up and our year-over-year declines in tonnage per day continue to moderate sequentially. Solid cost controls along with improvements in productivity and yield enabled us to improve our profitability levels even with the lower tonnage and contractual wage and benefit increases.
Operational highlight in Q3 included, first, YRC Freight's new accelerated service that continues to meet our expectations while our standard service remain a staple in the marketplace for linehaul economy service. Customers have embraced our fast track accelerated service, and we believe it to be an important part of service portfolio going forward.
From an efficiency standpoint, the YRC Freight operations team delivered year-over-year improvement in doc, city pickup and delivery, office operations and at linehaul load average metrics for the second consecutive quarter. These improvements help to partially offset higher wage and healthcare cost for our union employees. We also continue to benefit from improved maintenance expense and fuel efficiency from the ongoing upgrade to our fleet.
On the investment front, technology and change management work continues in our two largest cost buckets which are linehaul and pickup and delivery operations. Benefits from these investments were come in phases during the rest of the year and throughout 2017 with linehaul project being further along at this point.
As James mentioned, we have begun piloting our new pickup and delivery route optimization solution. The software from Quintiq will allow us to optimize trailer loading and route sequencing by interfacing dispatch with the doc to help prioritize how trailers should be loaded based on the order that the freight needs to be delivered. This termination of the loading sequence impacts how the trailer will be unloaded. It will also help us know when we have pickups throughout the day that they get called in at the last minute and who is the closest driver that has capacity on their trailer to pickup that freight on the most timely basis.
Over time, we are confident that this should help up increase our stops per day decrease our miles per trip and enhance our customer experience. The final operational highlight that I want to mention is we were also very pleased to make an investment that will benefit both our customers and YRC Freight. We opened our 259 terminal in the South Atlanta City of Conley, Georgia. It is a 75 door facility that has over 80 employees. This facility should allow us to strengthen our customer service and in around the congested Atlanta area in a cost effective manner. And as a good example of our ability to strategically grow and invest in our company when we identify the right opportunity.
I would like to thank all of our employees at YRC Freight for their continued efforts to improve our results and enhance our award winning customer experience. They have the right attitude about being safe, being reliable and making it difference for themselves, our customers and our communities.
Thanks for your time this afternoon. We would now be happy to answer any questions that you may have.