Jan 28, 2010 9:50 AM

Marten Transport Ltd, the Mondovi WI-based refrigerated truckload carrier, announced its financial and operating results for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2009.

For the fourth quarter of 2009, net income was $4.3 million, or 19 cents per diluted share, compared with $3.5 million, or 16 cents per diluted share, for the third quarter of 2009 and $5.8 million, or 27 cents per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of 2008. For 2009, net income was $16.3 million, or 74 cents per diluted share, versus $18.1 million, or 82 cents per diluted share, for 2008.

Operating revenue, consisting of revenue from truckload and logistics operations, decreased 8.3% to $128.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2009 from $140.4 million in the 2008 quarter and retreated 16.7% to $505.9 million in 2009 from $607.1 million in 2008. Operating expenses fell 7.3% to $120.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2009 from $130.1 million in the 2008 quarter and dropped 17.0% to $476.5 million in 2009 from $574.4 million in 2008.

Marten’s operating ratio (operating expenses as a percentage of operating revenue) was 93.7% for the fourth quarter of 2009 compared with 92.7% for the same quarter of 2008 and improved to 94.2% for 2009 from 94.6% for 2008.

Randolph L Marten, chairman and chief executive officer, said, “We are encouraged by our increased profitability from this year’s third quarter, despite a 5.3% increase in the average cost of fuel. We were able to achieve this by improving our average truckload revenue per tractor per week and by our continued progress in managing our operating costs.

“We believe that many of the benefits of our strategic initiatives, which include a transformation to a more regional network from our traditional long-haul business and further expansion into the temperature-controlled intermodal market, will be more pronounced as demand increases,” he said. “We believe that this transformation of our services along with our competitive position, cost control emphasis, modern fleet, and strong balance sheet position us well for growth.”