Marten Transport has sold its intermodal operations to Hub Group after more than two years of the division consistently reporting operating ratios in excess of 100%.
The two companies both issued prepared statements on the transaction, with the sales price reported at $51.8 million.
Hub Group’s statement celebrated the acquisition as significantly increasing its position in the market for refrigerated intermodal containers. The primary assets in the sale are for more than 1,200 refrigerated containers, along with contracts to serve what Hub Group said was a group of more than 100 shippers.
In the statement, Hub Group president and CEO Phil Yeager said the acquisition would more than double the size of his company’s temperature-controlled container fleet. In Hub Group’s 10-K filing from February, it said it had 900 refrigerated 53-foot containers. As a point of comparison, it also said it had 50,000 dry containers.
The Marten (NASDAQ: MRTN) intermodal group has been suffering with poor financial performance for several years. It had not recorded an operating ratio less than 100% since the first quarter of 2023. In the last five quarters, its operating losses ranged from $684,000 to $3.92 million. Its revenue in the second quarter of this year was $10 million. In the fourth quarter of 2023, it was $15.6 million and had declined every quarter since then.
Marten said the intermodal group had trailing twelve months revenue of $51.5 million in the 12 months ended June 30, which means the unit sold for approximately 1X revenue.
Marten’s second quarter earnings showed a company that was smaller by several measures. In its prepared statement announcing the sale, the company appeared to be suggesting that the sale of the intermodal group to Hub Group was part of that strategy.
““We have worked to bring clarity and focus to our integrated business strategy, and this transaction is a reflection of that process,” executive chairman Randolph Marten said in the statement. “We look forward to investing in and positioning our core operations to capitalize on profitable organic growth opportunities.”
In a presentation deck released in conjunction with the announcement, Hub Group (NASDAQ: HUBG) said its total refrigerated volume in 2024 was $47 million, up from $42.1 million in 2023. For the six months of 2025, it was $26.4 million.
Hub Group also said it expected the acquisition to be immediately accretive.
The presentation made two other points about the existing Hub Group refrigerated activities: refrigerated intermodal pricing and margin per load are higher than non temperature-controlled assets; and Hub Group’s full refrigerated fleet is now in service.
The stock prices of both companies have had a challenging 12 months. Hub Group is down 23.4% in the last year. Marten is down 26.7%. Both companies Tuesday were higher by a moderate amount.
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