Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Fred Buonocore - CJS Securities.
Fred Buonocore - CJS Securities
Outstanding quarter and one of the things that’s particularly impressive is the increase in vessel margin per boat per day. I know you touched on how you achieved this at various points in the call but could you just talk a little bit more about how you managed to drive this kind of increase and review what the major factors were and how we should think about this trajectory going forward over the next several quarters and even into next year?
Laurence S. Levy
Scott, could you address that please?
Scott Bravener
As we discussed there were a number of factors behind that. By being able to crew the new vessels ourselves and putting our operating velocity in place on board and our people, we were able to improve the operating efficiencies of the vessels themselves. We’re operating in a much improved freight rate environment as we touched upon. Over the last year we renewed a significant portion of our contracts. All contracts that expired we renewed on favorable terms and we also added some new business. The removal of the Calumet tightened up our trading patterns in the backhaul. And having the full fleet available without the labor stoppage that we experienced last year was one of the biggest drivers I think in increasing our scheduling flexibility. We could schedule to our advantage rather than fighting fires and addressing customer demands. Also we’ve had fairly pronounced improvement in water levels on the Great Lakes during the first quarter of this year.
Fred Buonocore - CJS Securities
In terms of the repowering of the Saginaw, could you talk a little bit about the profit impact of the Saginaw not sailing in the quarter due to the repowering project?
Laurence S. Levy
Joe, could you please quantify that.
Joseph W. McHugh, Jr.
As we mentioned the Saginaw only sailed about 19 days out of a total of 91 days for the quarter, so there were 72 days that we could have achieved revenue and freight revenue at an average of about $28,586 a day. You asked about the profit impact. Using an average of about $11,013 a day over those 72 days, it’s just under $800,000 a day assuming that you had no mechanical delays or no incidences and you did the full 91 days.
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