On this page of StockholderLetter.com we present the latest annual shareholder letter from MARTEN TRANSPORT LTD — ticker symbol MRTN. Reading current and past MRTN letters to shareholders can bring important insights into the investment thesis.

 •  3/17/2025 Letter Continued (Full PDF)
 •  3/15/2023 MRTN Stockholder Letter
 •  3/15/2024 MRTN Stockholder Letter
 •  More "Trucking" Category Stockholder Letters
 •  MRTN Benford's Law Stock Score = 22

MRTN Shareholder/Stockholder Letter Transcript:

MARTEN TRANSPORT, LTD.
2024 Annual Report

Who We Are
Marten Transport, Ltd., with headquarters in Mondovi,
Wisconsin, strives to be the premier supplier of time and
temperature-sensitive and dry transportation and distribution services to customers in the United States, Mexico and
Canada. Our multifaceted business offers a network of truckbased transportation capabilities across each of our distinct
business platforms.
Truckload     regional and over-the-road fleets, both temperature-sensitive and dry van, operating from Marten   s 15
regional operating centers.
Dedicated     customized solutions tailored to each individual
customer   s requirements utilizing refrigerated trailers, dry
vans and other specialized equipment.
Intermodal     refrigerated COFC (container on flatcar)
services providing the economies and energy efficiencies of
long-haul rail transportation with extended door-to-door
support from Marten   s truck network.
Brokerage     surge flexibility to supplement Marten   s capabilities through temperature-controlled and dry van services
provided by smaller third-party carriers.
MRTN de M  xico     industry-leading door-to-door temperature-controlled and dry van services between Mexico,
the United States and Canada utilizing our Mexican partner
carriers within Mexico.
We will accomplish our mission by exceeding the expectations of our customers, employees, stockholders and society.
We serve customers with demanding delivery deadlines, as
well as those who ship products requiring modern temperature-controlled trailers and containers to protect goods.
Founded in 1946, we have been a public company since
1986. Our common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global
Select Market under the symbol MRTN. At December 31,
2024, we employed 3,776 people, including drivers, office
personnel and mechanics.
Five-Year Financial Summary
2024
(Dollars in thousands, except per share amounts)
For the Year
Operating revenue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Operating income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Net income . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Operating ratio(1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Operating ratio, net of fuel surcharges(2) . . . . . . . . . . .
Per-Share Data
Basic earnings per common share . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Diluted earnings per common share . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Dividends declared per common share . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Book value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
At Year End
Total assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Long-term debt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Stockholders    equity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2023
Years ended December 31,
2022
2021
2020
$ 963,708
33,220
26,922
96.6%
96.0%
$1,131,455
$1 ,263,878
$ 973,644 $ 874,374
90,110
143,344
111,689
93,246
70,373
110,354
85,428
69,500
92.0%
88.7%
88.5%
89.3%
90.7%
86.4%
87.0%
88.2%


0.33
0.33
0.24
9.43
$ 968,757
767,922
0.87
0.86
0.24
9.31
$ 990,339
757,386

1.35
1.35
0.24
8.68
$ 965,679
703,919
(1) Represents operating expenses as a percentage of operating revenue.
(2) Represents operating expenses as a percentage of operating revenue, with both amounts net of fuel surcharges.

1.03
1.02
0.66
7.85
$ 870,690
651,677

0.84
0.84
0.633
7.50
$ 831,636
620,333

To Our Stockholders and Employees
The brutal freight market recession of 2023 continued
into 2024   and got worse. Its unprecedented depth and
duration meant the end of the road for a large number
of trucking companies. Marten Transport faced the same
challenges, yet our multifaceted business model gave us the
flexibility and resilience needed to keep us profitable while
developing forward-looking enhancements in technology,
energy management and on-the-road safety.
But it wasn   t easy. We, along with the entire trucking
industry, were caught in an unyielding squeeze between
severe inflationary operating costs and a decline in industry
freight rates to unsustainable levels. The industry   s severe
overcapacity in the face of continuing weak demand and
the cumulative impact of freight rate reductions and related
freight network disruptions put unrelenting pressure on our
earnings throughout the year.
We needed the full range of the talent and experience of our
people to sustain the focus promised in our annual report
one year ago: minimizing the freight market   s impact on our
operations while investing in and positioning our operations
to capitalize on profitable organic growth opportunities as the
market moves toward equilibrium   with fair compensation for
our premium services.
We have held the line on that, and for the first time in more
than two years we are seeing some encouraging evidence
that the market recession is bottoming out. For the fourth
quarter of 2024 we had sequential quarterly improvement
in net income, operating income and operating ratio, net of
fuel surcharges, for the first time since the second quarter
of 2022. Our Truckload and Dedicated operations each
produced sequential fourth quarter increases in revenue per
tractor, rate per total mile and miles per tractor, important
measures of equipment utilization.
2024 Financial Results
Operating revenue was $963.7 million for 2024, compared
with $1.131 billion for 2023. Excluding fuel surcharges,
operating revenue was $840.0 million for 2024, compared
with $972.0 million for 2023. Fuel surcharge revenue
decreased to $123.7 million from $159.4 million for 2023.
Operating income was $33.2 million for 2024, compared
with $90.1 million for 2023. Our operating ratio (operating
expenses as a percentage of operating revenue) was 96.6%
for 2024 and 92.0% for 2023. Excluding fuel surcharges,
the ratio was 96.0% for 2024 and 90.7% for 2023.
Net income for 2024 was $26.9 million, or 33 cents per
diluted share, compared with $70.4 million, or 86 cents per
diluted share, for 2023.
Collaborative Flexibility
Marten   s multifaceted business model has given us multiple
avenues of growth across a wide range of market conditions   
and provided something of a safety net when conditions
have plummeted. Unique in our industry, our model is
regional in structure, national in scope, international in
reach. Marten has transitioned from a long-haul refrigerated
carrier into a network of distinct but complementary truckbased transportation capabilities   Truckload, Dedicated,
Intermodal, Brokerage and MRTN de M  xico   operating across 15 regional service centers. The value of our
collaborative flexibility in minimizing the freight market
recession   s impact is highlighted by the operating results of
our Dedicated and Brokerage operations   which together
produced our operating income   and MRTN de M  xico,
our single most profitable platform.
Truckload     Reflecting the industry-wide supply-demand
imbalance, Truckload revenue, including both temperature-sensitive and dry freight, declined to $439.8 million
for 2024 from $465.5 million for 2023. Excluding fuel surcharges, Truckload revenue was $377.5 million, compared
with $395.6 million for 2023. Operating income was $3.3
million for 2024, down from $24.8 million for 2023. The
2024 Truckload operating ratio was 99.3% and the operating ratio, net of fuel surcharges, was 99.1%.
Dedicated     Though down from a year earlier, the Dedicated
platform contributed one-third of Marten   s 2024 operating
revenue and more than two-thirds of our operating income.
Dedicated revenue was $319.1 million for 2024, compared
with $408.3 million for 2023. Excluding fuel surcharges,
2024 revenue was $267.1 million, compared with $335.0
million for 2023. Operating income was $23.0 million,
compared with $48.4 million for 2023. The 2024 Dedicated
operating ratio was 92.8%, and the operating ratio, net of
fuel surcharges, was 91.4%.
Our Dedicated operations were honored in 2024 with the
2023 North American Gold Carrier of the Year award from
Chemours Company, recognizing    an unwavering commitment to service, reliability and safety.    Marten increased its
specialty chemical truckloads with Chemours by 25% with
an on-time delivery rate of 99%. This was the fourth consecutive year Marten received Chemours    gold or platinum
carrier of the year award.
MARTEN TRANSPORT 2024 ANNUAL REPORT

Intermodal     Reflecting reduced industry demand for
intermodal services largely due to the drop in truckload
rates, our Intermodal revenue declined to $58.8 million
for 2024 from $92.1 million for 2023. Excluding fuel surcharges, 2024 revenue was $49.5 million, compared with
$75.9 million for 2023. The operating loss was $3.9 million
versus an operating loss of $156,000 for 2023. The 2024
Intermodal operating ratio was 106.7%, and the operating
ratio, net of fuel surcharges, was 107.9%.
Brokerage     The Brokerage platform has effectively capitalized on our dry van market opportunity as we continue
to focus on increasing our volume of non-dedicated and
dry van freight. Dry vans made up 21% of our Brokerage
freight during 2024. Brokerage revenue was $146.0 million
for 2024 versus $165.6 million for 2023. Operating income
was $10.8 million, compared with $17.1 million for 2023.
The 2024 Brokerage operating ratio was 92.6%.
MRTN de M  xico     Operating profitably within our
Truckload and Brokerage segments, MRTN de M  xico
offers our customers door-to-door temperature-controlled
and dry van service between Mexico, the United States
and Canada utilizing our Mexican partner carriers within Mexico. It continued to produce stand-out results in
2024, further expanding its dry van business and contributing $62.9 million in operating revenue, excluding fuel
surcharges. We   ve had quarterly increases in MRTN de
M  xico dry truckload and Brokerage loads in all but one of
the eleven quarters since we expanded into dry freight with
our Mexico operations in February 2022, including the last
three quarters of 2024.
MRTN de M  xico has expanded all three of its border-crossing terminals   at Laredo and McAllen, Texas, and
Otay Mesa, California, and has purchased land in McAllen
for a new facility with increased capacity.
spot detection systems. We pay our drivers for shutting
down in inclement weather. And, we   ve embraced several
recent technology enhancements, including the SmartDrive
video-based safety system which provides forward-facing
camera technology focused on driver behavior. The cameras use an AI program to detect 40 types of unsafe driving
events and send each event to our managers to coach or
terminate using our conservative enforcement standards.
We have aggressively implemented SmartDrive in our fleet,
ending 2024 with 2,707 seated drivers on the system.
A solar advantage: Marten has installed solar energy panels in all its facilities nationally as a way of reducing our
carbon footprint and cutting costs. Solar panels have also
been installed on our tractors to enhance the savings on fuel
usage provided by our auxiliary power units.
The installations produce 3 million kilowatt-hours, or
2,125 metric tons, of generation and offset annually   
enough energy to power more than 400 homes. The carbon
sequestration from this much clean energy offset each year
is equivalent to the impact of over 2,500 acres of forest.
Emphasis on Fundamentals
The freight recession interrupted 12 consecutive years of
record operating revenue, excluding fuel surcharges (20112022), and five consecutive double-digit increases in annual
earnings, excluding a deferred tax benefit in 2017 (20182022). We want to get back on that track and believe that
the rigorous testing of our operations over the past two
years has sharpened the tools needed to do so.
Our confrontation with the freight recession proved the
worth of our adaptive and proprietary model and technology, while requiring intensified emphasis on our operating
efficiencies and cost controls   discipline that will serve us
well as the market moves toward equilibrium.
Safety, Technology and Energy
Sincerely,
On equal footing with our focus on minimizing the freight
recession   s impact is a deepened effort to streamline and
strengthen Marten for a return to strong profitable growth
as the market recovers. We can report significant progress in
three vital interrelated areas: safety, technology and energy
management.
Randolph L. Marten
Executive Chairman of the Board
Safety has long been Marten   s No. 1 priority. We   ve established industry leadership through proactive measures such
as hiring only experienced drivers and providing them
with the safest tractors available   tractors equipped with
radar-based collision avoidance, lane departure and blind
MARTEN TRANSPORT 2024 ANNUAL REPORT
February 14, 2025
This Annual Report contains forward-looking statements that involve risks
and uncertainties that could cause results to differ materially from those
projected. Please refer to the    Risk Factors    section in Item 1A of the attached
Form 10-K.



 3/17/2025 Letter Continued (Full PDF)