Alert: Sudden layoffs for Arrow Trucking Company

Links:

[link to abclocal.go.com]

[link to www.csmonitor.com]

Damn.

This is a recovery how?

The only arrow site up is the "trucks for sale".

[link to www.arrowtruck.com]

This is terrifying. How will the stores continue to be stocked if the truckers stop running?

Yep if you google Arrow Trucking you can go to the Cached portion of their site and see what it USED to be.

The way they left their drivers stranded all over the country is so screwed up. I bet you the execs are at home safe and sound with their families tonight. Tool bags!

Thats the big picture. Arrow was one of the larger companies too.

What are the top 5 trucking companies?

All the drivers should meet at the execs homes and beat them with lug wrenches.

Nothing says "Merry Christmas" like a tire iron to the skull!

hmmm Yellow, JB Hunt, Schneider to name a few

A cheater bar works better...

True, true...

Has there been a shift to using trains for transportation instead of trucks? Has the freight delivery dropped considerably? I am looking for the reason they are in such dire straits?

From the interview there does not seem to be companies wanting to hire truckers at this point.

YRC Worldwide (Yellow and Roadway is most people know them)is the biggest with around $7B in revenue

Ryder #2
Con Way #3
Schneider #4 3.5B
Swift #5
JB Hunt #6
ABF #8
England #9

Look at who has bought into rail in the last few years ( i.e. Warren Buffet) for your answers.

Thank you for checking OP

Watch after the first of the year. beginnig the 1st or second week. Alot of the smaller companies will be folding in the trucking biz. Even though cost have risen on many products. The milage rate has remain the same. Which means companies cost per mile have gone up. The ones that have few trucks will not and are not able to pay the bills. Arrow had aprox 1000 trucks. Thats not a large company. The on I work for has about 6000 trucks. several couple of compaines has 15000 to 20000 trucks. this allows them to make less profit per mile and still stay in biz. We purchase our fuel in bulk say a million gals at a time and then pay a couple trucks stops to store and despince it.
When i buy fuel the only thing the company wants to know is the gallons received not the dollar amount.

Possibly pin worthy... looks like the more you dig into this the further down the rabbit hole you go.

A little help for some, as horrible as this is.



Daimler Financial offering bus ticket or cash to Arrow drivers with Freightliner tractors
A spokesperson for Daimler said the company was offering stranded drivers a bus ticket home or $200 in cash.

The Trucker News Services

12/22/2009

TULSA, Okla. — A message on telephones located at Arrow Trucking’s Tulsa terminal instructs drivers driving Freightliner trucks on procedures in the wake of the company shutting down operations Tuesday.

The company as of 1:45 p.m. had yet to post instructions for drivers in International model trucks.

“Drivers, if you’re in Freightliner KW, please take your truck to the nearest Freightliner shop, call this hotline number to Daimler, 877-294-9679, they will arrange for you a bus ticket home. If you are in an International, please call back and as we will update it as we find out more information,” the message said.

The number is for Daimler Financial Services, which owns the Freightliner trucks. Drivers may have to hold for a while, but a representative will answer.

A spokesperson for Daimler said the company was offering stranded drivers a bus ticket home or $200 in cash.

Arrow’s terminals at Tulsa, Houston, Dallas and Masury, Ohio, Phoenix and Laredo, Texas, had the same recorded message for drivers.

Pamela Boone, the wife of a trucker, posted on Facebook an offer of sandwiches, money and “whatever” to stranded Arrow drivers, along with help in shipping their belongings home to them since they “obviously” can’t take such items as TVs, small refrigerators or microwaves on the buses with them. She said more people also are interested in helping these drivers in need.

And we are not a publicly traded company. It's privately owned.

When Trucks Stop, America Stops

Google this, a very eye opening pdf file. This is HUGE!!

For Content

Yeah. This would make a great pin. When the wheels stop, so does the country. And you can take that to the failed bank.

We have our own authority, very small, three truck operation.
It's been rough, and I fear what is coming down the road :(
We've been fortunate to always be running dedicated, although rates have dropped significantly. Most of my friends in the business closed their doors already. We run produce, and husband used to say that was job security, since people have to eat. I strongly disagree.

People do need to eat but I think "grown local" will be a new catch phrase, especially if gas prices rise just one more time.

Arrow Trucking Co. abruptly closed Dec. 22, effectively stranding its company drivers across the country three days before Christmas, news sources report.

The company’s website, www.arrowtrucking.com, is no longer operational, and the headquarters in Tulsa, Okla., could not be reached for a response by telephone.

KTUL News Channel 8, Tulsa, Oklahoma’s ABC network affiliate, says employee payroll checks recently bounced.

A telephone recording at the main office gives these instructions to drivers:

“If you’re in a Freightliner or KW, please take the truck to the nearest Freightliner shop. Call this hotline number to Daimler: 877-294-9679. They’ll arrange for a bus ticket for you home. If you’re in an International, please call back and check with this message later as we find out more information.”
[link to www.etrucker.com]

forget christmas gifts, stock up on food...NOW!

Found this timeline in a PDF from 2006:

[link to www.truckline.com]

When Trucks Stop, America Stops

A Timeline Showing the Deterioration of Major Industries Following a Truck Stoppage

The first 24 hours

• Delivery of medical supplies to the affected area will cease.
• Hospitals will run out of basic supplies such as syringes and catheters within hours. Radiopharmaceuticals will deteriorate and become unusable.
• Service stations will begin to run out of fuel.
• Manufacturers using just-in-time manufacturing will devebunnyponent
shortages.
• U.S. mail and other package delivery will cease.

Within one day

• Food shortages will begin to develop.
• Automobile fuel availability and delivery will dwindle, leading to skyrocketing
prices and long lines at the gas pumps.
• Without manufacturing components and trucks for product delivery,
assembly lines will shut down, putting thousands out of work.

Within two to three days

• Food shortages will escalate, especially in the face of hoarding and consumer panic.
• Supplies of essentials—such as bottled water, powdered milk, and canned meat—at major retailers will disappear.
• ATMs will run out of cash and banks will be unable to process transactions.
• Service stations will completely run out of fuel for autos and trucks.
• Garbage will start piling up in urban and suburban areas.
• Container ships will sit idle in ports and rail transport will be disrupted, eventually coming to a standstill.

Within a week

• Automobile travel will cease due to the lack of fuel. Without autos and
busses, many people will not be able to get to work, shop for groceries,
or access medical care.
• Hospitals will begin to exhaust oxygen supplies.

Within two weeks

• The nation’s clean water supply will begin to run dry.

Within four weeks

• The nation will exhaust its clean water supply and water will be safe for drinking only after boiling. As a result gastrointestinal illnesses will increase, further taxing an already weakened health care system.

This timeline presents only the primary effects of a freeze on truck travel. Secondary effects must be considered as well, such as inability to maintain telecommunications service, reduced law enforcement,increased crime, increased illness and injury, higher death rates, and likely, civil unrest.

The USA is supposed to open the doors for the Mexican Trucking anyway.

We are curretnly in violation of NAFTA and are in the dispute process.

Once these copmanies are out of the way, the Mexicans can just drive in and scoop up the business. It will happen anyway when they undercut pricing and drive them all out of business.

Not good...from OP's Reuters link on industry biggie YRC:

Carey Gillam - Analysis
OVERLAND PARK, Kansas
Fri Dec 18, 2009 4:17pm EST Related NewsUPDATE 3-YRC tender offer falls short, to be extended
The countdown is on for troubled U.S. trucking giant YRC Worldwide Inc (YRCW.O).

Economy

Industry players doubt it can complete a complicated bond exchange and restructuring, and attention is now turning to how a YRC failure could boost rival trucking companies.

"If YRC makes it into the new year, I'd be very surprised," said industry consultant and analyst Dick Armstrong, of Armstrong and Associates. "I don't think they are going to make it. There will be a lot of shifts in the industry because of that."

The pessimistic view followed word from YRC on Thursday that it was falling far short of needed bondholder approval for a $537.8 million debt-to-equity exchange that is the foundation of a financial restructuring essential for YRC's survival.

The company acknowledged on Thursday it might have only days left before its liquidity becomes "unsustainable." It said it must convince bondholders to swap debt for equity by December 31 to avoid a $19 million payment of interest and fees it cannot meet.

At the same time, YRC said it was lowering the threshold for participation, but acknowledged support had fallen below even the new threshold.

"The jig may be up," wrote industry analyst Ed Wolfe in a report to investors on Friday.

Wolfe recommended the aggressive purchasing of shares of YRC rivals and said its position was "dire" as it appeared a coalition of supporters made up of lenders, bondholders and pension fund interests was "fraying."

"We believe that the odds of YRC filing for bankruptcy and exiting the industry have gone up considerably," Wolfe said in his report.

Wolfe noted the shares of rivals rose an average 9 percent on Thursday, while YRC fell about 7 percent.

YRC shares closed down 3 percent on Friday, while its rivals' shares were up.

Industry analyst Jason Seidl of Dahlman Rose had similar doubts about the odds of survival and said YRC's potential demise would be a "game changing" event for the trucking industry. In a note to investors on Friday he forecast YRC would quickly lose up to 35 percent of its customers if was forced to file for bankruptcy.

"We believe that YRC will have a difficult time meeting the newly announced threshold ... If that proves to be the case, we would not be shocked to see the carrier attempt a pre-packaged bankruptcy," Seidl said.

YRC rivals, notably Arkansas Best Corp (ABFS.O) and Con-way Inc (CNW.N), are among those expected to benefit substantially. Both have made no secret of their efforts to take advantage of YRC's financial problems to woo business in the less-than- truckload industry.

Overland Park, Kan.-based YRC has been struggling with heavy debt made more onerous by the economic downturn that cut into business in the less-than-truckload industry it dominates. It has already laid off thousands of workers and cut deals with labor and lenders as it tries to hold onto customers.

The company acquired Roadway Corp in 2003 for $1.07 billion and then bought USF Corp in 2005 for $1.37 billion, adding not only to its debt, but also creating integration challenges.

YRC initially said it thought it could obtain approval from 95 percent of its bondholders on a proposed $536.8 million bond exchange. It said it would issue 42 million shares of common stock and 5 million shares of Class A convertible preferred stock, giving noteholders 95 percent of the company's common stock and effectively wiping out existing equity holders.

But after failing to get participation, the company said on Thursday it was lowering the threshold and extending the expiration date for the third time, to 11:59 p.m. EST December 23.

The company has said the exchange offer is crucial. Following its completion, the lenders have agreed to defer nearly all of interest and fees, which are about $25 million per quarter, and allow the company access to an existing $106 million revolver reserve.