General Reconciliation of Net Income (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, except Share data, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2011	Sep. 30, 2012	Oct. 02, 2012	Sep. 30, 2011
Reconciliation of Net Income from Continuing and Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Net income attributable to Martin Midstream Partners L.P.	$ 72,401	$ 5,399	$ 90,122		$ 21,491
Less general partner's interest in net income:
Distributions payable on behalf of IDRs	0	1,265	2,857	18,000	3,635
Net Income (Loss) Allocated to Limited Partners	70,953	3,774	85,519		16,668
Weighted average limited partner units outstanding basic (in units)	23,101,233	19,158,334	22,929,172		19,161,403
Increase in units outstanding due to the dilutive effect of restricted units granted (in units)	3,596	4,794	3,164		1,663
Continuing operations [Member]
Reconciliation of Net Income from Continuing and Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Net income attributable to Martin Midstream Partners L.P.	8,798	3,134	22,810		13,763
Less general partner's interest in net income:
Distributions payable on behalf of IDRs	(1,536)	763	723		2,328
Distributions payable on behalf of general partner interest	(320)	207	295		640
Distributions payable to the general partner interest in excess of earnings allocable to the general partner interest	526	(159)	147		(411)
Less beneficial conversion feature	0	166	0		532
Net Income (Loss) Allocated to Limited Partners	10,128	2,157	21,645		10,674
Discontinued operations [Member]
Reconciliation of Net Income from Continuing and Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Net income attributable to Martin Midstream Partners L.P.	63,603	2,265	67,312		7,728
Less general partner's interest in net income:
Distributions payable on behalf of IDRs	1,536	502	2,134		1,307
Distributions payable on behalf of general partner interest	709	138	872		360
Distributions payable to the general partner interest in excess of earnings allocable to the general partner interest	533	(103)	432		(232)
Less beneficial conversion feature	0	111	0		299
Net Income (Loss) Allocated to Limited Partners	$ 60,825	$ 1,617	$ 63,874		$ 5,994