Note 6 - Property and Equipment

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Property, Plant and Equipment Disclosure [Text Block]

6. PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT

A summary of property and equipment, at cost, as of December 31, 2011 and 2010 is as follows:

(in thousands)	Estimated Useful Lives		2011		2010
Revenue equipment	3-10 years		$	351,433	$	357,326
Communications equipment	5-10 years			12,706		18,591
Land and improvements	0-10 years			18,910		17,356
Buildings and leasehold improvements	7-40 years			39,025		37,822
Construction in-progress		-		1,221		1,565
Other	1-10 years			16,756		17,807
			$	440,051	$	450,467

Depreciation expense was $52.6 million, $55.5 million, and $47.2 million in 2011, 2010, and 2009, respectively. The aforementioned depreciation expense excludes gains (losses) on the sale of property and equipment totaling $6.7 million, $4.3 million and ($0.1) million in 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively, which are presented net in depreciation and amortization expense in the consolidated statements of operations.

We lease certain revenue equipment under capital leases with terms of 60 months. At December 31, 2011 and 2010, property and equipment included capitalized leases, which had capitalized costs of $21.3 million and $16.4 million, respectively, and accumulated amortization of $3.4 million and $1.6 million, respectively. Amortization of these leased assets is included in depreciation and amortization expense in the consolidated statement of operations and totaled $1.8 million, $1.4 million, and $0.2 million during 2011, 2010, and 2009, respectively.

In 2009, we began a multi-year project to upgrade the hardware and software of our information systems. The goal upon completion of the project is to have uniform operational and financial systems across the entire Company as we believe this will improve customer service, utilization, and enhance our visibility into and across the organization. We incurred approximately $0.6 million and $0.8 million in 2011 and 2010, respectively, related to this system upgrade, and $0.6 million of these related amounts are included in construction in progress as the related systems were not implemented as of December 31, 2011. We have capitalized $3.4 million of these costs, which are reflected in property and equipment in the consolidated balance sheet.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for long-lived, physical assets that are used in the normal conduct of business to produce goods and services and not intended for resale. Examples include land, buildings, machinery and equipment, and other types of furniture and equipment including, but not limited to, office equipment, furniture and fixtures, and computer equipment and software. This disclosure may include property plant and equipment accounting policies and methodology, a schedule of property, plant and equipment gross, additions, deletions, transfers and other changes, depreciation, depletion and amortization expense, net, accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization expense and useful lives, income statement disclosures, assets held for sale and public utility disclosures.

+ References+ Details