Six months ago I doubt that they imagined they would be facing quitting or selling out now.
1 Like
The first one is Covenant but they own several other companies underneath their entire umbrella. All of them are teetering with chapter 7.
1 Like
US Express was bought by Swift in July 2023 their part of that group now being swallowed up and intergrated now.
1 Like
This trucking slowdown began in 2022 after the peak during Covid. The companies have seen this coming for two years.
From May, 2025:
https://ksmcarriergroup.com/truckings-longest-downturn-what-really-caused-the-great-freight-recession/
From Sept., 2023:
https://time.com/6313178/trucking-bubble-has-burst/
From July, 2023:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/economics/truckers-flooded-market-covid-now-struggle-pay-bills-rcna89301
1 Like
I looked up the 3 companies owned by Covenant. Iâve heard of all of them but didnât know Covenant owned them. Same with USX/Swift.
I could make a comment about companies who bring religion into the business equation, but I wonât.
Supply and demand.
Rates skyrocketed and the number of truckers and lines increased. Rates drop, so do truckersâ numbers. Thatâs capitalism, with its brutal self-correcting mechanism.
Souther Refrigerated Transit and Star Transportation besides Covenant are the 3 that are hurting big time. Whatâs keeping that place open is their ownership of Landaire Transportation which has extensive contracts with multiple LTL carriers and FedEx and UPS doing expedited shipping for them. Those profits are the only reason why they havenât imploded yet.
Basically that division is playing the old N&W keeping the Pennsylvania railroad afloat in the 50s and 60s. But you can only rearrange the deck chairs for so long. YRC and Caledon shoeed us that.
3 Likes
Charlie, although we may currently disagree on the place of LDs in the Amtrak sheme-of-things.I agree heartily with posting ANY trucking news that could n any way affect rail freight. Thanks for starting an intereting and informative discussion.
Iâm surprised the CRST is still around. They were always a bottom feeder and seem to have shrunk greatly in the last decade.
Yep Harold, we know how that finally shook out. Same in the trucking industry. Unless they suddenly can find new business (unlikely), the current over-capacity, coupled with low haulage rates will force the weakest companies to close. And if we are headed into an economic slowdown, that would accelerate the process. Economic Darwinism is an essential (though rough) component of market capitalism. In the past, government has moderated the severity but I wouldnât count on that now.
The biggest problem in the OTR industry isnât the mega carriers. Itâs called carriers that run substandard equipment undercutting rates and when they get to deep in debt shutdown change ownership and return. Also brokerage companies that decide that they need to shoot the carriers in the foot in teems of rates they pay them. CH Robinson is notorious for being called Cheap and Heavy. Theyâre getting 3 bucks a mile for the contracts that they hold but barely pay 1.50 to 1.80 a mile to the carriers.
Then throw in your average Personal Injury Atty. A close friend of mine was hit by a car that did the suicide dive across 3 lanes in Atlanta off 285 to head towards 20 East. My friendâs carrier runs dashcams in a 360 degree view around the truck. The other party was cited for 3 different moving violations. No seat belt insurance reckless driving and driving on a revoked license on top of the first 3 charges. Yet my friend was sued for the broken arm the other party suffered in the accident when their car spinning out of control flung the arm through the broken driverâs side window and smashed it into the bull bars on his nose.
They demanded 500k dollars for the injury and pain and suffering. This is one reason why most OTR carriers are screaming about insurance costs. Even when the accident is proven beyond a reasonable doubt that it was the other partyâs fault lawyers still sue.
Now when the trucking company or driverâs at fault heck yeah we need to pay for the damages. But when youâre faced with lawyers that even with a no win case think they can get a settlement from the insurance company.
1 Like
Either that or the kids donât really take it seriously. I know this one restaurant in Pittsburgh my mother was a waitress at back in the day went down that like. It was a decent place while the mom and dad ran it but once the son took over it all went downhill. He simply saw it as a place for him and his buddies to hang out and get drunk some more after the bars closed for the night. A couple years after he took over it went under because it just wasnât making any money. A lot of those cute trendy little boutiques celebrities buy their wives are like that too. The wife just sees it as a clubhouse for her and her friends to hang out in while hubby foots the bills.