Note 9 - Leases and Commitments

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Leases of Lessee Disclosure [Text Block]

9.    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 as of December 31 for the years indicated.

			(in thousands)
	Capitalized Costs		Accumulated Amortization		Net Book Value
December 31, 2010	$	69,795	$	20,777	$	49,018
December 31, 2011		72,272		22,525		49,747

Amortization of leased assets is included in depreciation and amortization expense in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations. Rent expense relating to operating leases for facilities and certain revenue equipment is included in operations and maintenance expense and rent expense relating to operating leases for office equipment is included in other operating expenses and costs. The total rent expense incurred is included in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations. Amortization of leased assets and rent expense under operating leases are reflected in the table below for the years indicated.

		(in thousands)
		For the Year Ended December 31,
		2011		2010		2009
Amortization of leased assets	$	12,447	$	12,134	$	10,739
Rent expense under operating leases		3,914		2,037		1,203

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.

At December 31, 2011, the future minimum payments under capitalized leases with initial terms of one year or more and future rentals under operating leases for certain facilities, office equipment and revenue equipment with initial terms of one year or more were as follows for the years indicated.

		(in thousands)
		2011		2012		2013		2014		2015		Thereafter
Future minimum payments	$	20,167	$	14,297	$	9,160	$	7,564	$	--	$	--
Future rentals under operating leases		1,767		990		801		167		10		303

 As of December 31, 2011, the remaining minimum capital lease payments were $49.2 million, which excludes amounts representing interest of $1.9 million.  The current portion of net minimum lease payments, including interest, is $20.2 million.

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 and the availability of qualified drivers.

As of December 31, 2011, we had no commitments for purchases of revenue equipment, and approximately $0.03 million for non-revenue purchases.

During January 2012, we committed to purchase revenue equipment in the approximate amount of $38.0 million, approximately $7.8 million of which is cancelable by us upon advance written notice.