Note 11 - Business Segments

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2016

Notes to Financial Statements

Segment Reporting Disclosure [Text Block]

(11) Business Segments

We have aggregated our five current operating segments into four reporting segments (Truckload, Dedicated, Intermodal and Brokerage) for financial reporting purposes.

The primary source of our operating revenue is provided by our Truckload segment through a combination of regional short-haul and medium-to-long-haul full-load transportation services. We transport food and other consumer packaged goods that require a temperature-controlled or insulated environment across the United States and into and out of Mexico and Canada.

Our Dedicated segment provides customized transportation solutions tailored to meet individual customers’ requirements, utilizing temperature-controlled trailers, dry vans and other specialized equipment within the United States. Our customer contracts range from three to five years and are subject to annual rate reviews.

Our Intermodal segment transports our customers’ freight within the United States primarily utilizing our temperature-controlled trailers and also, through March 2015, our dry containers on railroad flatcars for portions of trips, with the balance of the trips using our tractors or, to a lesser extent, contracted carriers.

Our Brokerage segment arranges for smaller third-party carriers to transport freight for our customers in temperature-controlled trailers and dry vans within the United States and into and out of Mexico while we retain the billing, collection and customer management responsibilities.

The following table sets forth for the periods indicated our operating revenue and operating income by segment. We do not prepare separate balance sheets by segment and, as a result, assets are not separately identifiable by segment.

	Three Months				Six Months
	Ended June 30,				Ended June 30,
( Dollars in thousands )	2016		2015		2016		2015
Operating revenue:
Truckload revenue, net of fuel surcharge revenue	$	85,103	$	88,822	$	168,045	$	175,633
Truckload fuel surcharge revenue		8,933		13,929		16,045		28,519
Total Truckload revenue		94,036		102,751		184,090		204,152
Dedicated revenue, net of fuel surcharge revenue		36,654		22,601		72,164		42,464
Dedicated fuel surcharge revenue		2,621		2,803		4,208		5,394
Total Dedicated revenue		39,275		25,404		76,372		47,858
Intermodal revenue, net of fuel surcharge revenue		16,118		16,101		31,972		33,120
Intermodal fuel surcharge revenue		1,664		2,945		3,011		6,318
Total Intermodal revenue		17,782		19,046		34,983		39,438
Brokerage revenue		14,997		16,387		32,574		33,427
Total operating revenue	$	166,090	$	163,588	$	328,019	$	324,875
Operating income:
Truckload	$	6,951	$	9,808	$	13,891	$	19,410
Dedicated		5,134		2,563		9,458		4,567
Intermodal		1,822		969		3,751		2,220
Brokerage		869		821		1,801		1,563
Total operating income before gain on disposition of facility		14,776		14,161		28,901		27,760
Gain on disposition of facility		-		-		-		3,712
Total operating income	$	14,776	$	14,161	$	28,901	$	31,472

             Truckload segment depreciation expense was $13.9 million and $13.5 million, Dedicated segment depreciation expense was $5.1 million and $3.2 million, Intermodal segment depreciation expense was $987,000 and $1.4 million, and Brokerage segment depreciation expense was $376,000 and $289,000, in the three-month periods ended June 30, 2016 and June 30, 2015, respectively. Truckload segment depreciation expense was $27.6 million and $26.7 million, Dedicated segment depreciation expense was $10.0 million and $6.0 million, Intermodal segment depreciation expense was $1.9 million and $2.9 million, and Brokerage segment depreciation expense was $857,000 and $559,000, in the six-month periods ended June 30, 2016 and June 30, 2015, respectively.