Marten Transport Ltd. said first-quarter operating revenue, consisting of revenue from truckload and logistics operations, increased 9.9 percent, to $131.4 million in the first quarter of 2007 from $119.6 million in the 2006 quarter.

Truckload revenue increased 4.7 percent to $118.1 million from $112.9 million in the 2006 quarter. Logistics revenue, which consists of revenue from its brokerage and intermodal operations, increased 98.4 percent to $13.3 million from $6.7 million in the 2006 quarter.
Operating revenue included fuel surcharges of $17.4 million, compared with $16.0 million for the same quarter of 2006. Operating revenue, net of fuel surcharges, increased 10.1 percent to $114.0 million from $103.5 million in the 2006 quarter.
For the first quarter ended March 31, 2007, net income decreased 9.1 percent, to $4.6 million, or 21 cents per diluted share, from $5.1 million, or 23 cents per diluted share, for the same quarter of 2006.
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Randolph L. Marten said, "We were relatively pleased with Marten's performance in the first quarter given the challenges of a somewhat softer freight market and severe winter storms that impaired productivity. We were able to mitigate the effects of generally declining freight tonnage by concentrating on our core business of transporting food and consumer products, which we believe are generally less cyclical than many other products. Winter weather dealt a harsher blow, however, as we lost approximately three days of fleet operations to winter storms, which was more than we have experienced in some time. Despite these obstacles, our earnings of 21 cents per diluted share represented the third-highest earnings total for a first quarter in the history of our company.
"Through a combination of seating more trucks, obtaining rate increases where justified, and holding the line on non-revenue miles, we were able to increase our asset productivity over the first quarter of 2006. Average truckload revenue per tractor per week, net of fuel surcharges, our main measure of asset productivity, increased 3.4 percent to $3,059 from $2,959 in the first quarter of 2006, which is notable given the inclement weather we experienced in February. Average truckload revenue, net of fuel surcharges, per total mile increased 2.1 percent to $1.479 from $1.448 in the first quarter of 2006. Our average number of seated tractors grew 5.9 percent quarter-over-quarter. With the additional seated trucks, miles per tractor increased 1.3 percent as well.