Amid acknowledgement of operational challenges during the third quarter of its 2024 fiscal year, Proficient Auto Logistics on Wednesday appointed a new member to its board of directors.

Joining the leadership group is Brenda Frank, who is currently is the group senior vice president of human resources, buying offices, of Ross Stores.

Frank leads a team of more than 80 professionals with Ross Stores, where she has worked since 2018.

Before joining Ross Stores, Frank was chief people officer of Stericycle from 2016 to 2018, joining that company as part of its acquisition of Shred-it. Frank was executive vice president of human resources, franchise relations, general counsel & secretary at Shred-it from 2010 to 2016.

Prior to Shred-it, Frank was senior vice president and general manager of HR for Itochu International, the North American flagship of ITOCHU Corp. overseeing HR operations for investments in a variety of industries.

Proficient Auto Logistics likely will be tapping Frank’s leadership following an update shared in early October about certain expected operating and financial metrics for the third quarter of fiscal 2024.

As noted during the company’s second quarter earnings call in early August, Proficient Auto Logistics said unit volumes slowed during June with the slowdown continuing into July.

“While there were specific events in July — such as seasonal plant closures during the first two weeks of the month — the company also made note of its OEM customers’ cautionary tone regarding their outlook for the second half of 2024,” Proficient Auto Logistics said in a news release.

Proficient Auto Logistics said in that news release that weakness in unit volumes continued throughout the third quarter, resulting in estimated unit volumes of flat to a decline of 1% compared to combined unit volumes for the third quarter of 2023.

“Volume underperformance resulted primarily from significantly less dedicated fleet, brokerage and spot buy opportunities, which are typically at premium pricing,” the company said.

Proficient Auto Logistics then explained that the combined result is an estimated $90 to $92 million in revenue for the third quarter that represents a decline of 14-16% compared to combined revenue for the third quarter of 2023.

Given the reduced level of revenue and resulting loss of operating leverage, the company said it expects that net income for Q3 of its 2024 fiscal year will be “significantly degraded” compared to results reported for the quarter ended June 30.

Proficient Auto Logistics went on to mention macroeconomic factors affecting unit volumes include a decline in vehicle SAAR (seasonally adjusted annual sales rates), which for the full quarter ending Sept. 30, was estimated to be lower by 1.9% compared to the same quarter in 2023.

Company management also cited industry commentary that vehicle sales were “negatively impacted by consumers feeling the adverse effect of an uncertain job market as well as possibly waiting for anticipated interest rate cuts before committing to big ticket purchases such as autos.”

Proficient Auto Logistics went on to say, “the company’s longer-term operating initiatives, including post-acquisition integration efforts, remain on pace and the company is seeing evidence of on-going improvement in its competitive position in the auto hauling industry, both from increased market share as well as the recent acquisition of the Auto Transport Group.

“While a protracted East Coast longshoremen strike could have negatively impacted unit volumes during the fourth quarter of 2024 and beyond, the short duration of the work stoppage should have a modest impact at most,” Proficient Auto Logistics added.

The company said it will provide further details regarding these matters when it reports its final results for Q3 later this month.