Patriot Transportation CEO sees more gasoline issues (Courtesy of the Jacksonville Daily Record) — While the Colonial Pipeline shutdown last week disrupted gasoline supplies, Patriot Transportation Holding Inc. CEO Robert Sandlin sees more headaches for motorists ahead.
The Jacksonville-based trucking company transports fuel throughout the Southeast, and Sandlin said a shortage of drivers is affecting the ability of Patriot and other firms to serve its customers.
Patriot Transportation Holding Inc. CEO Robert Sandlin
“Without an increase in driver capacity, the entire industry will struggle to meet demand,” Sandlin said during Patriot’s quarterly conference call last week.
“I think everybody is concerned about the ability to service the need over what will be a busy summer,” he said.
Patriot’s revenue fell 16% to $19.7 million in the second quarter ended March 31, in part due to a lack of drivers to transport fuel.
Sandlin said demand for fuel returned to near pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels in mid-February and into March, exacerbating the need to find qualified drivers.
Patriot’s May 13 conference call came just as Colonial was beginning to get its pipeline back into service.
“We are experiencing widespread petroleum product shortages and some outages from the loading facilities but as in many of these events, when product runs out in one of our markets, our drivers are diverted to another and we continue to generate revenue,” Sandlin said.
“I would just call that a short-term event. The bigger event is the overall trucking capacity,” he said.
Patriot reported net income of 14 cents a share for the quarter, but that included 31 cents in gains from real estate sales.
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