Note 8 - Leases

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2012

Leases of Lessee Disclosure [Text Block]

8.           LEASES

We have operating lease commitments for office and terminal properties, revenue equipment, and computer and office equipment and capital lease commitments for revenue equipment, exclusive of owner/operator rentals and month-to-month equipment rentals, summarized for the following fiscal years (in thousands):

	Operating		Capital
2013	$	24,334	$	3,059
2014	$	21,152	$	8,751
2015	$	19,204	$	3,362
2016	$	14,464	$	2,886
2017	$	6,683	$	-
Thereafter	$	26,252	$	-

A portion of our operating leases of tractors and trailers contain residual value guarantees under which we guarantee a certain minimum cash value payment to the leasing company at the expiration of the lease. We estimate that the residual guarantees are approximately $9.2 million and $3.9 million at December 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively. The residual guarantees at December 31, 2012 expire between 2016 and 2019. We expect our residual guarantees to approximate the market value at the end of the lease term. Additionally, certain leases contain cross-default provisions with other financing agreements and additional charges if the unit's mileage exceeds certain thresholds defined in the lease agreement.

Rental expense is summarized as follows for each of the three years ended December 31:

(in thousands)	2012		2011		2010
Revenue equipment rentals	$	19,746	$	15,364	$	17,346
Building and lot rentals		3,714		3,266		3,586
Other equipment rentals		679		812		1,063
	$	24,139	$	19,442	$	21,995

On October 28, 2010, we executed a Letter Agreement ("Letter Agreement") with Transport International Pool, Inc. ("TIP").  The Letter Agreement modifies the Master Lease Agreement dated April 15, 2003, between TIP and us, pursuant to which we have entered into (among others) equipment lease schedules covering 2,446 trailers (the "Designated Schedules") which expired between November 2010 and May 2011. In addition, contemporaneously with the execution of the Letter Agreement, we returned 543 trailers in accordance with the terms of the Master Lease Agreement in order to better match our trailer fleet with our current number of tractors. Pursuant to the terms of the Letter Agreement, upon the scheduled expiration of each of the Designated Schedules, we will lease from TIP the trailers that are subject to such Designated Schedule on the terms and conditions set forth in the Letter Agreement and a new lease schedule attached to and made a part of the Letter Agreement. Under the terms of the Letter Agreement, the trailers subject to the agreement will be required to be returned or purchased at the rate of approximately 100 trailers per month beginning February 2012. In 2012, we began turning in the trailers that were covered by the Designated Schedules and replaced a portion of the trailers with new ones, such that our total trailer count is approximately 450 less at December 31, 2012 than December 31, 2011. We will continue turning in trailers in 2013 and 2014 pursuant to the Letter Agreement; however, these units will generally be replaced on a one-for-one basis with new trailers.

In April 2006, we entered into a sale leaseback transaction involving our corporate headquarters, a maintenance facility, a body shop, and approximately forty-six acres of surrounding property in Chattanooga, Tennessee. In the transaction, we entered into a twenty-year lease agreement, whereby we will lease back the property at an annual rental rate of approximately $2.5 million subject to annual rent increases of 1.0%, resulting in annual straight-line rental expense of approximately $2.7 million, which comprises a significant portion of building rentals above. The transaction resulted in a gain of approximately $2.1 million, which is being amortized ratably over the life of the lease, noting the $1.4 million deferred gain is included in other long-term liabilities in the consolidated balance sheet.