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Universal Truckload Services Inc. reported its first-quarter profit fell 29% as its contract-related business declined.

Comments with first-quarter earnings reports issued last week continued to trigger optimism about a pickup in freight in 2014, though severe winter weather dampened results for several prominent truckload fleets.

P.A.M. Transportation Services reported first-quarter net income of $1.36 million, or 17 cents per share, turning around a loss of $450,000, or 5 cents, in the prior year.

Universal Truckload Services Inc. said it expects its first-quarter earnings to be in the range of 23 to 27 cents per share, down from 38 cents a share in the same quarter last year.

Universal Truckload Services Inc. said its net income rose in both the fourth quarter of 2013 and the full year.

Universal Truckload Services Inc. said its net income in the third quarter dropped 8.7% to $13.7 million or 46 cents a share, from $15 million, or 50 cents, a year prior.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Officials with the Truckload Carriers Association said they are evaluating how to address potential federal government changes to insurance limits, the issue of driver coercion and expanding the interstate driver corps to include 18-to-21 year olds.

New York-based trucking company Leonard’s Express said it has agreed to buy Diamond State Warehousing & Distribution.

Several of the country’s largest publicly traded truckload carriers reported a mixture of modest profit declines and some gains for the second quarter, with most citing a soft freight market.

Universal Truckload Services’ second-quarter operating income rose from a year ago.