Florida East Coast Railway registered revenue, volume gains in Q1

Late last week, Florida East Coast Railway L.L.C. (FEC) reported first-quarter revenue of $68.8 million, up 20 percent compared with first-quarter 2012 primarily because of strong intermodal and aggregates business.

Intermodal revenue jumped 21 percent to $40.7 million and volume rose 4.2 percent to 93,600 units — accounting for 73 percent of total traffic — because the railroad realized rate increases in most classes of traffic and registered more export volume.

Driven by aggregates demand, carload revenue climbed 29 percent to $24.7 million and volume soared 55 percent to 34,200 units. The revenue gain also reflects a continuing partial recovery of Florida's home building and road construction markets, and a slightly stronger automotive market, FEC officials said in a first-quarter financial performance review.

The railroad also reported that operating income jumped 44 percent year over year to $17.4 million and the operating ratio improved 4.2 points to 74.7. Operating expenses increased 14 percent to $51.4 million primarily due to higher labor/benefits, purchased services and fuel costs.

Looking ahead, some ongoing drivers for intermodal business will be a continued focus on truck-to-rail conversions and maximizing market pricing, as well as the launch of some on-dock rail services, FEC officials said.

In the second half, the railroad expects to start up on-dock service at the Port of Miami after finalizing on-dock track and loading requirements with the port. In addition, near-dock service at Port Everglades is projected to begin in first-half 2014 after an intermodal container transfer facility is completed.