Note 11 - Leases and Commitments

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2012

Leases of Lessee Disclosure [Text Block]

NOTE 11 – LEASES AND COMMITMENTS

We lease 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
March 31, 2012		$	63,657		$	14,304		$	49,353
December 31, 2011			72,272			22,525			49,747

We have entered into leases with lenders who participate in the Credit Agreement.  Those leases contain cross-default provisions with the Credit Agreement.  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 March 31, 2012, for the remainder of 2012, we had commitments for purchases of non-revenue equipment in the amount of $0.02 million and commitments for the purchases of revenue equipment in the amount of approximately $61.2 million, none of which is cancelable by us upon advance written notice.  We anticipate taking delivery of revenue equipment representing approximately $38.1 million throughout the remainder of 2012 and the balance of approximately $23.2 million during the first quarter of 2013.