Monday, January 17, 2011

Ryder weathers recession

MIAMI, FL -- Even before the recession, Miami-based Ryder Systems had been expanding its long-term lease business and placing less emphasis on its truck rentals. Revenues reached an all-time high of nearly $6.4 billion in 2007, but declined during two years of recession. Revenues in 2009 were down 23 percent.

“Despite the recession, we remained profitable each year,” said Gregory T. Swienton, Ryder’s chairman and CEO, in a Miami Herald article. According the Swienton, the company foresaw the economic slump when the volume of home furnishings declined in 2006.

Weathering the storm, Ryder reduced its workforce by more than 5,000, froze salaries and bonuses, shrank its truck fleet, and discontinued unprofitable foreign operations. In December, however, the company announced new acquisitions of several leasing and logistic companies.