For the third quarter of 2021, the partnership recorded net income of $104 million.
Adjusted EBITDA was $198 million compared to $189 million in the third quarter of 2020.
Volumes were approximately two billion gallons, a sequential increase of 2% from the second quarter.
Year-over-year volumes increased 6.4%.
Fuel margin was $0.113 per gallon versus $0.121 per gallon in the third quarter of 2020.
Total operating expenses in the third quarter were up as expected compared to the second quarter at $113 million versus $102 million and were flat to the third quarter of 2020.
Third quarter distributable cash flow as adjusted was $146 million, yielding a current quarter coverage ratio of 1.68 times and a trailing 12-month coverage ratio of 1.43 times, consistent with our long-term target of a minimum of 1.40 times.
On October 25, we declared an $0.8255 per unit distribution, consistent with last quarter.
Leverage at the end of the quarter was 4.05 times, which we expect to increase minimally with the closing of the NuStar acquisition.
Leverage is expected to trend lower toward our 4.0 times target as we move into next year.
Our 2021 full year EBITDA guidance remains $725 million to $765 million, excluding the NuStar and Cato acquisitions.
We are reducing full year 2021 operating expense guidance to $425 million to $435 million compared to our previous guidance of $440 million to $450 million.
Finally, we continue to expect maintenance capital of $45 million and growth capital expenditures of approximately $150 million.
In October, we issued $800 million of 4.5% senior notes due 2030, using the proceeds to redeem $800 million of our existing 5.5% senior notes due 2026.
The transactions lower our interest rate on this debt by 100 basis points while extending the maturity date by approximately four years.
Volume for the quarter was up over 6% from last year, but the more relevant comparison continues to be performance relative to 2019.
On that basis, we were off about 7% from the third quarter of 2019.
Fuel volumes grew roughly 2% versus the second quarter of this year, while our fuel margins remained very healthy.

Summary:
Our 2021 full year EBITDA guidance remains $725 million to $765 million, excluding the NuStar and Cato acquisitions.