Note 15 - Business Segments

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Notes to Financial Statements

Segment Reporting Disclosure [Text Block]

1

5.

Business Segments

We aggregate 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 develops contractual relationships with and arranges for

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 through Marten Transport Logistics, LLC, which was established in

2007

and operates pursuant to brokerage authority granted by the DOT. We retain the billing, collection and customer management responsibilities.

The following table sets forth for the years 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.

( Dollars in thousands )	201 6		2015		2014
Operating revenue:
Truckload revenue, net of fuel surcharge revenue	$	339,967	$	348,101	$	358,458
Truckload fuel surcharge revenue		35,884		50,260		89,815
Total Truckload revenue		375,851		398,361		448,273
Dedicated revenue, net of fuel surcharge revenue		147,007		107,264		56,609
Dedicated fuel surcharge revenue		10,363		11,008		13,743
Total Dedicated revenue		157,370		118,272		70,352
Intermodal revenue, net of fuel surcharge revenue		64,508		65,877		75,447
Intermodal fuel surcharge revenue		6,982		11,081		21,645
Total Intermodal revenue		71,490		76,958		97,092
Brokerage revenue		66,433		71,403		57,212
Total operating revenue	$	671,144	$	664,994	$	672,929
Operating income:
Truckload	$	27,438	$	35,517	$	39,483
Dedicated		19,550		12,818		7,136
Intermodal		7,131		4,832		1,735
Brokerage		4,184		3,792		2,652
Total operating income before gain on disposition of facilities		58,303		56,959		51,006
Gain on disposition of facilities		-		4,104		-
Total operating income	$	58,303	$	61,063	$	51,006

Truckload segment depreciation expense was

$56.2

million,

$53.7

million and

$53.0

million, Dedicated segment depreciation expense was

$20.6

million,

$15.0

million and

$8.2

million, Intermodal segment depreciation expense was

$3.9

million,

$5.4

million and

$6.0

million, and Brokerage segment depreciation expense was

$1.7

million,

$1.3

million and

$993,000,

in

2016,

2015

and

2014,

respectively.