Note 14 - Leases and Commitments

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2011

Leases of Lessee Disclosure [Text Block]

NOTE 14 – LEASES AND COMMITMENTS

The Company leases certain revenue equipment under capital leases with terms of 36, 42 or 45 months.  Balances related to these capitalized leases are included in property and equipment in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets and are set forth in the table below for the periods indicated.

	(in thousands)
	Capitalized Costs			Accumulated Amortization			Net Book Value
September 30, 2011		$	85,434		$	26,892		$	58,542
December 31, 2010			69,795			20,777			49,018

We have entered into leases with lenders who participated in our Amended and Restated Senior Credit Facility and who participate in the Credit Agreement we entered into on April 19, 2010.  Those leases contain cross-default provisions with the Facility and the new Credit Agreement, which replaced that Facility.  We have also entered into leases with other lenders who do not participate in our Credit Agreement.  Multiple leases with lenders who do not participate in our Credit Agreement generally contain cross-default provisions.

We routinely monitor our equipment acquisition needs and adjust our purchase schedule from time to time based on our analysis of factors such as new equipment prices, the condition of the used equipment market, demand for our freight services, prevailing interest rates, technological improvements, fuel efficiency, equipment durability, equipment specifications, our operating performance and the availability of qualified drivers.

As of September 30, 2011, for the remainder of 2011, we had commitments for purchases of non-revenue equipment of approximately $0.5 million and commitments for the purchases of revenue equipment in the amount of approximately $7.0 million, of which $4.3 million is cancelable by us upon advance written notice.