Marten Transport has reported its best profit of any quarter in the company’s history. 

It improved 22.4% to $8 million, for the third quarter of this year, up from $6.5 million for the third quarter of 2012. 

For the nine-month period ended Sept. 30, net income increased 16.9% to $22.8 million from $19.5 million the same time a year earlier.

Operating revenue, consisting of revenue from truckload and logistics operations, increased to $167.1 million for the third quarter of 2013 from $163.6 million for the third quarter of 2012. For the first nine months of the year it increased to $493.0 million from $472.0 million for the 2012 nine-month period.

“Our total truckload, intermodal and broker loads increased 11.9% in the third quarter of 2013 over the prior year’s quarter, said chairman and CEO Randolph L. Marten. “We continue to drive improvements in tractor utilization and revenue per tractor, which increased 3.3% over the third quarter of 2012 – on top of a 7.3% increase in the third quarter of 2012 over the 2011 quarter. 

He said these continued improvements helped the Wisconsin-based refrigerated hauler have an operating ratio, excluding fuel surcharge, of 89.9% for the third quarter of 2013, its second best ratio over the past 28 quarters.

More information is available on the Marten Transport website.