J.B. Hunt: Demand up ?fairly dramatically?

J.B. Hunt: Demand up æfairly dramaticallyÆ    J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. said it had second quarter net profit of $52.1 million, compared to $24 million in the same 2009 period.
   Operating revenue for the quarter was $943 million, a 22 percent increase over the $770 million reported for the second quarter of 2009.
   The company said the operating revenue increase was primarily attributable to higher intermodal segment volumes, significant growth in its dedicated contract services segment and revenue growth in its truck segment. It said utilization of assets improved significantly as did pricing in the truck segment.
   'Demand for transportation services has increased fairly dramatically as we have emerged from a multiyear freight recession. Scarcity of capacity in intermodal, truckload and brokerage markets was quite pronounced in the current quarter,” said Kirk Thompson, the company’s president and chief executive officer.