Note 11 - Business Segments

9 Months Ended

Sep. 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, along with dry freight, 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				Nine Months
	Ended September 30,				Ended September 30,
( Dollars in thousands )	2016		2015		2016		2015
Operating revenue:
Truckload revenue, net of fuel surcharge revenue	$	85,469	$	86,594	$	253,514	$	262,227
Truckload fuel surcharge revenue		9,726		11,777		25,771		40,296
Total Truckload revenue		95,195		98,371		279,285		302,523
Dedicated revenue, net of fuel surcharge revenue		37,669		31,477		109,833		73,941
Dedicated fuel surcharge revenue		2,967		2,937		7,175		8,331
Total Dedicated revenue		40,636		34,414		117,008		82,272
Intermodal revenue, net of fuel surcharge revenue		16,381		17,158		48,353		50,278
Intermodal fuel surcharge revenue		1,979		2,673		4,990		8,991
Total Intermodal revenue		18,360		19,831		53,343		59,269
Brokerage revenue		16,273		18,730		48,847		52,157
Total operating revenue	$	170,464	$	171,346	$	498,483	$	496,221
Operating income:
Truckload	$	6,509	$	8,204	$	20,400	$	27,614
Dedicated		5,505		3,929		14,963		8,496
Intermodal		1,645		1,152		5,396		3,372
Brokerage		1,210		1,069		3,011		2,632
Total operating income before gain on disposition of facility		14,869		14,354		43,770		42,114
Gain on disposition of facility		-		-		-		3,712
Total operating income	$	14,869	$	14,354	$	43,770	$	45,826

             Truckload segment depreciation expense was $14.1 million and $13.3 million, Dedicated segment depreciation expense was $5.2 million and $4.3 million, Intermodal segment depreciation expense was $995,000 and $1.4 million, and Brokerage segment depreciation expense was $400,000 and $295,000, in the three-month periods ended September 30, 2016 and September 30, 2015, respectively. Truckload segment depreciation expense was $41.7 million and $40.0 million, Dedicated segment depreciation expense was $15.3 million and $10.4 million, Intermodal segment depreciation expense was $2.9 million and $4.3 million, and Brokerage segment depreciation expense was $1.3 million and $854,000, in the nine-month periods ended September 30, 2016 and September 30, 2015, respectively.