Subsequent Events (Notes)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Subsequent Events [Abstract]

Subsequent Events [Text Block]

21. SUBSEQUENT EVENTS:

On February 7, 2017, the Company announced it has agreed to acquire the shares of Atlantic Western Transportation, Inc., parent company of Heart of Georgia Railroad, Inc. (HOG). The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of STB approval, and is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2017.

HOG was founded in 1999 and operates across the state of Georgia on 219 miles of track leased from the Georgia Department of Transportation. It connects with the Company’s Georgia Southwestern Railroad at Americus, Georgia, and with the Company’s Georgia Central Railway at Vidalia, Georgia. HOG serves an inland intermodal terminal at Cordele, Georgia, providing five-day/week, direct rail service via the Georgia Central Railway to the Port of Savannah for auto, agricultural products and other merchandise customers. HOG has Class I railroad connections with CSX Corp. at Cordele and with Norfolk Southern at Americus and Helena, Georgia.

HOG transports approximately 10,000 annual carloads of agricultural products, feed, fertilizer, and lumber and forest products, of which approximately 2,000 carloads are interchanged with the Company’s Georgia Central Railway. Following the acquisition, HOG will be managed as one of the Company’s Coastal Region railroads.