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Revenue for the truckload carrier was down 30.7% from the 2024 period, the company said. (Heartland Express)

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' losses tripled year over year in the second quarter of 2025 as revenue slumped at the truckload carrier, which continued to struggle to turn a profit at divisions acquired in recent years.

Heartland posted a net loss of $10.9 million in Q2, more than triple a loss of $3.5 million in the same period 12 months earlier.

Revenue totaled $210.4 million in the most recent quarter, down 30.7% from $274.8 million in the year-ago period, the company said July 24.

“Our consolidated operating results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2025, reflect sequential improvement during a prolonged and challenged industrywide operating environment where current capacity outpaces weak freight demand,” CEO Mike Gerdin said.

“These dynamics, coupled with what we perceive as unsustainable pricing in many markets and rising operating costs, continue to be a significant headwind for us and all of those operating in our industry,” Gerdin added.

He has previously painted the freight market as the worst in more than 45 years.

Heartland, which ranks No. 39 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in North America, posted an operating ratio of 105.9 in Q2 compared with 99.9% in the year-ago period.

Carriers’ OR provides insight on how well a company is balancing its costs and revenue generation. The lower the ratio, the better a company’s performance.

Gerdin said Heartland was working on improving the company’s performance.

“We have continued to strategically reduce underperforming lanes of freight and reduce our overall fleet size to better align with freight demand while focusing on driver utilization and operating cost reductions,” the company’s top executive said.

The performance of Heartland’s four brands — Heartland Express, Millis Transfer, Smith Transport and Contract Freighter’s Inc. — correlated with the amount of time as part of the company.

Heartland Express posted a profit in Q2 and the first half of 2025, the North Liberty, Iowa-based company said, without providing more details. Both Heartland Express and Millis Transfer posted a profit and improved their OR by about 4 points in Q2 compared with the first quarter of 2025.

Smith Transport also boosted its OR compared with Q1 but did not turn a profit in the most recent quarter. However, CFI’s OR went in the opposite direction, and the operating loss deepened.

CFI completed a transportation management system conversion in Q2. It also began a full fleet telematics transition in Q2 and is expected to be completed during the third quarter of 2025.

Heartland said it expects all four brands to be operating on a common TMS by Dec. 31, a move the carrier expects will boost efficiency in 2026.

Heartland acquired Contract Freighters’ nondedicated truckload business as well as Mexican entities under CFI Logistica from Montreal-based TFI International in a $525 million deal in August 2022.

Two months earlier, Heartland bought dry van truckload carrier Smith Transport for about $170 million. Roaring Spring, Pa.-based Smith had terminal locations in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Indiana.

Including all divisions, Heartland posted a net loss of $24.7 million in the first six months of 2025, compared with a $18.6 million loss a year earlier. Revenue in the first half of the year totaled $429.8 million, down 21.2% from $545.1 million in the year-ago period. The company’s OR was 106.4 compared with 102.6 in the 2024 period.

However, Gerdin and Heartland are becoming more optimistic about the latter half of 2025 and particularly 2026.

“While we have begun to see some encouraging signs within current freight demand and customer pricing,” he said, “we do not expect material improvements until later in 2025 and a resulting positive impact to future financial results and an improved freight outlook in 2026.”

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