TRAILER-BRIDGE RETURNS TO PROFITABILITY IN 2ND QUARTER

TRAILER-BRIDGE RETURNS TO PROFITABILITY IN 2ND QUARTER    Trailer Bridge, Inc., the U.S. mainland/Puerto Rico shipping company, reported a net income of $627,724 for the three months ended June 30, compared to a net loss of $399,377 for the second quarter of 1999.
   Net income for the latest quarter included a benefit of $127,100 from the cumulative effect of change in accounting related to vessel dry-docking.
      Operating income for the second quarter was $1.3 million, as compared to $140,417 in the year-earlier period. Trailer Bridge said that the rise in its operating income was due to increased volume, continuing improvement in costs and the non-recurrence of $709,335 of hurricane-related costs incurred last year in the company’s operations in San Juan.
   Total revenues for the latest quarter were $23.8 million, up 5 percent on the $22.7 million reported in the second quarter of 1999.
   For the second quarter of 2000, total southbound Puerto Rico volume increased 10.1 percent and total northbound volume increased 22.7 percent compared to the year- earlier period.
   For the first six months of the year, Trailer Bridge reported a net loss of $523,203, as compared to a loss of $2.1 million in the first half of 1999. The operating income for the first six months of this year was $399,683, compared to an operating loss of $1.9 million a year earlier. Revenues for the latest six-month period were $45.1 million, down 1 percent when compared to $45.4 million in revenues for the same period in 1999.