Basis of Presentation

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2013

Basis of Presentation [Abstract]

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Text Block]

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying consolidated financial statements include the parent company, Heartland Express, Inc., and its subsidiaries, all of which are wholly owned. All material intercompany items and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements of Heartland Express, Inc. and subsidiaries (the “Company”) have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Regulation S-X. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by U.S. generally accepted accounting principles for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, all normal, recurring adjustments considered necessary for a fair presentation have been included. The consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes for the year ended December 31, 2012 included in the Annual Report on Form 10-K of the Company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 28, 2013. Interim results of operations are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the full year or any other interim periods. There were no changes to the Company's significant accounting policies during the nine month period ended September 30, 2013 other than detailed in the Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements below.

Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements

In February 2013, the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued new accounting guidance, which requires companies to provide information about the amounts reclassified out of accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) by component. In addition, a company is required to present significant amounts reclassified out of comprehensive income (loss) by the respective line items of net income. This guidance is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2012. As the new standard did not change the current requirements for reporting net income, other comprehensive income, or accumulated other comprehensive loss in the financial statements, the Company's financial position, results of operations or cash flows were not impacted. There was $0.5 million and $1.1 million reclassified out of accumulated other comprehensive loss during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2013. See Note 5.